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LaLiga and Microsoft Corp. have announced an expansion of their partnership focused on digitally transforming the sports experience globally.

 

The companies will also collaborate on developing technology solutions to the media and entertainment industry through LaLiga’s technology offering, LaLiga Tech.

 

As LaLiga’s global Tech and Innovation Partner, Microsoft will help develop new and leverage existing solutions that will drive innovation across the sports industry including:

 

For sports fans: Azure Event Hubs, Azure Data Lake, Azure Databricks and Azure Machine Learning will provide data-enhanced match coverage, personalised OTT streaming options such as camera angle selection in matches. LaLiga will offer new experiences such as augmented reality, virtual reality and 3-D replays.

 

For rights holders, broadcasters and commercial partners: Azure, Dynamics 365, Power BI, SQL Database and Azure Cosmos DB, Azure Machine learning will enable an enhanced OTT streaming platform that features personalised recommendations and enhanced experiences with relevant content, games and services.

 

For venue managers: Power BI and Azure will streamline stadium operations through innovations in security, and leverage 5G for unified in-stadium experiences.

 

As part of the collaboration, LaLiga will utilize Microsoft Azure, including AI and machine learning for its LaLigaSportsTV OTT platform and Mediacoach (match stats and visualization) platform, to reinvent interactive audiovisual experiences and formats.

 

 “We value Microsoft as our technology and innovation partner and appreciate how they collaborate deeply to build innovative solutions aimed at solving business challenges specific to our industry,” said Javier Tebas, President of LaLiga.

 

“We are moving into a new era in which technology will become the centre of the fan experience and data insights will power the next stage of global growth.”

 

Jean-Philippe Courtois, EVP and President Global Sales, Marketing & Operations, Microsoft Corp, added: “We are thrilled to expand our partnership with LaLiga as it makes further bold moves to deepen engagement with its hundreds of millions of fans, while bringing new business models to market with Microsoft cloud and AI capabilities.

 

“Microsoft is proud to help accelerate LaLiga’s digital innovation and empower exciting new business opportunities in the sports and entertainment industries through LaLiga’s technology portfolio.”

 

The collaboration is key to the growth and development of LaLiga Tech, through which LaLiga will package its full range of existing technologies into a commercial offering for the sports industry, from matchday stats and analytics to the next generation of OTT streaming services, to the most advanced content protection services and venue access management systems.

 

With the enhanced partnership announced, LaLiga and Microsoft will focus on co-innovation and cloud acceleration using Microsoft Azure and its AI capabilities.

 

The collaboration will continue providing LaLiga, through LaLiga Tech assets, with new growth and business opportunities by leveraging the best innovations emerging across the sports market, entertainment companies and other commercial companies around the globe. 

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