Sports entertainment and cutting-edge technology come together once again. IBM and ESPN expanded their partnership to integrate IBM’s watsonx artificial intelligence platform into the ESPN Fantasy Football app. The new feature, Fantasy Insights Built with IBM watsonx, is designed to provide the 14 million fantasy managers who use the app with personalized, data-driven recommendations.

The new feature appears directly on the ESPN Fantasy Football home page. According to IBM, it delivers a quick, AI-generated overview of relevant players to a specific roster. According to developers, the recommendations are produced from an immense data pool. It draws from over 36 billion insights throughout the season to offer fantasy football advice.

A Smarter Fantasy Football Team With AI

IBM developers say the system builds upon the existing suite of IBM Player Insights, which provides advanced metrics such as Waiver Grades, Trade Grades, and Boom-and-Bust probabilities.

In addition, it uses AI models to categorize highly specific criteria to guide fantasy football managers through complex decisions with “greater confidence.” For example, the new category “Buy Low Sell High” identifies players whose recent opponents were strong but whose upcoming matchups are weak. Another category called “Trade Bait” flags underperforming players who are rostered by most leagues.

Moreover, AI-driven analysis extends to predicting future outcomes and market trends. According to IBM, the system predicts which players will either over-perform or under-perform. Additionally, the AI system highlights players who are positively trending in the media but are rostered by less than 50% of leagues. As fantasy football rises in popularity and gets more competitive between friend groups, having a smarter edge could help fantasy managers outperform their peers.

“Fantasy football is all about optimizing decision making, and AI is helping fans make them with deeper insights,” said Jonathan Adashek, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications at IBM. “With Fantasy Insights Built With IBM watsonx, we’re putting the power of watsonx into the hands of millions of people on the ESPN Fantasy Football app, helping them make smarter, more informed decisions while also showcasing the same capabilities businesses around the world use to scale AI.”

This isn’t the first time IBM integrated its watsonx platform into the sports world. The company partners with Wimbledon to provide a more engaging viewing experience. In addition, IBM has an ongoing partnership with The Masters golf tournament, offering AI-powered features on the tournament’s app.