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The Ohio-based professional basketball franchise is a technology leader in the sports industry.
Photo description | Cleveland Cavaliers VP of Product and Technology Conor Kenney shares strategy tips for AI adoption and how AI has impacted the fan experience.
Credit | Newsweek illustration/ Getty Images
The NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers have adopted multiple new technologies and artificial intelligence tools to drive their operations forward. This includes collection and distribution of highlights as a way to engage fans, and a technology that has helped data science and development teams build apps along rapid timelines.
Conor Kenney, VP of product and technology for the Cavaliers, told Newsweek he's benefitted from a fair amount of space to experiment—both from fans and internal business partners.
With investment in AI tools, Kenney said he had "a year runway of just building things and doing cool stuff."
"We've got this data. We've got a lot of interest in technology. We're already doing innovative things with partnerships as well as internal expertise," he said. "And so we started playing around."
Reflecting on his 11 years with the Cavs, Kenney shared that the team's fans, who are also valued customers, are extremely willing beta testers of new arena experiences or new features on the team's mobile app—and that's helped too.
"They love being first," he said. "They're going to feel super special, and they'll give you really good, honest feedback."
The promise of Big Data and emerging machine-learning technology for a pro sports franchise includes the opportunity to understand fan behavior and segment customers better and provide more personalized experiences.
"We get to know our fans really, really well and try a whole lot of cool stuff and eventually get to the point where something sparks. An idea that turns into a hook turns into something else, and all of a sudden, we're doing something really cool and big," Kenney shared. "But a lot of things had to have happened that went wrong."
One win for Kenney and his internal development team was a scheduling tool for the sales team, he said. They built a tool for alerting reps when a season-ticket holder entered the arena so they could know to meet them. It was not a direct request of the IT team, Kenney shared, but the sales team wanted that ability.
"That's when it starts to click, 'This is what you guys do. This is how data is useful,' and it turns into a lot of conversation around how we can make that more beneficial. How can we make that more efficient from the development and data side?" Kenney explained.
The role of technology in improving the fan experience in the arena is essential, Kenney added. The arena experience is a priority for the organization as a whole.
"It's the most important thing," he said. "Some people, this is something they save up for. Other people have high expectations of what kind of an experience they should have, so anyone who walks in this building needs to walk out feeling like this is a great experience."
The use cases of emerging technology for fans range from internal support to delightful visual experiences.
"It could be just customer management systems, but it's also the cool stuff like technology activations on the concourse," Kenney said. "We've done a couple of VR/AR activations [including] what the future of watching sports could look like...it's just a really surreal experience."
AI also allows the team to collect more feedback from fans and have the opportunity to respond quicker to issues, in the stadium or elsewhere.
"In years past, when we were asking for feedback, we'd get some results. Now we're getting more feedback from more fans and are able to process it much more quickly and act on it much more quickly," Kenney said.
Like in any industry or field, Kenney looks to peers in the NBA but also other sports franchises for inspiration or ideas. He pointed to NASCAR and the St. Louis Blues as two organizations that stand out.
"I've just seen them do a couple of really cool things," Kenney said of the Blues.
Across the NBA teams, Kenney shared that technology leaders are collaborating on how to use AI to improve business operations. He's also in touch with teams in other sports leagues located in the same region.
"I've built more relationships in the past year or two with other NBA teams than any other time combined. It's been a very collaborative effort," Kenney said. "Regionally, we've been having meetings with the [NFL's] Cleveland Browns and the [MLB's Cleveland] Guardians to see what they're working on, and the [MLS'] Columbus Crew. It's just a much more collaborative kind of environment right now, because we're all figuring this out together."
