IBM Brings Next Generation of AI-Powered Insights to ESPN Fantasy Football Platform

-IBM Granite puts generative AI to work for fantasy football users, offering more detailed reasoning around players’ assigned waiver grades and trade grades

-New IBM and Morning Consult survey finds that fantasy football users are turning to AI to enhance digital performance and experience in fantasy leagues

IBM and ESPN are unveiling enhancements to the ESPN Fantasy app – powered by generative AI technologies from IBM’s AI and data platform, watsonx – designed to deliver a more customized and engaging digital experience for more than 12 million fantasy football users. The announcement comes as new research commissioned by IBM and conducted by Morning Consult confirms fantasy football users are increasingly embracing AI to improve their rosters and overall fantasy football experiences.

Now available, the “Top Contributing Factors” within the Waiver Grade and Trade Grade features offers more detailed reasoning around a player’s assigned grades. The information appears as bulleted statements and is generated by IBM’s Granite large language model. The grades themselves are personalized to each team and produced by AI models built with IBM watsonx, taking into account large volumes of complex data including player performance, articles written by football experts, and the specific needs of each fantasy owner’s roster. Examples of the benefits to fantasy football participants include:

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• Personalized player grades based on each team’s needs
• Transparent explanations of AI-generated player grades
• Predictions of each player’s potential upside and downside

The new1 and updated features bolster a suite of IBM watsonx-powered tools, including Trade Analyzer with IBM watsonx and Player Insights with IBM watsonx, all of which transform large volumes of football data into insights that can help ESPN Fantasy Football users make more informed decisions about their lineups.

A new survey1 from IBM and Morning Consult of 500 fantasy football users in the United States confirms that surveyed fantasy football users are embracing AI-powered solutions to help enhance their lineups and overall league performances. Key highlights from respondents include:

• Nearly 90% of users regularly engage with at least one AI or AI-related tool.
• 82% confirmed they leverage trade and waiver suggestions to improve their fantasy lineups.
• Of users not yet engaged with the technology, 92% surveyed indicated they would find AI helpful in their fantasy football efforts.

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“Millions of people participate in fantasy football on the ESPN Fantasy platform each year, and they are constantly looking for the best information available to complete in and win their leagues. This year’s enhancements in the ESPN Fantasy platform put watsonx-powered insights directly in their hands, giving them access to personalized, data-driven insights that help deliver on these expectations,” said Noah Syken VP, Sports and Entertainment Partnerships. “These same generative AI technologies on watsonx including IBM Granite are also at work for businesses across all sectors, turning complex information into actionable insights that modernize their workflows.”

Entering its eighth consecutive year, the collaboration between IBM and ESPN Fantasy Football continues to tap into the latest technologies from watsonx to transform football data into compelling and helpful information for fantasy team owners. This includes IBM’s Granite collection of large language models, as well as IBM watsonx Code Assistant which provides AI-generated coding recommendations and developer insights.