Six NFL teams are adding Cisco AI-ready networking and cybersecurity technologies for the 2025 NFL season.
We’ve reached Labor Day, and for many of us football fans, that means the start of the next NFL season. Fantasy football aficionados have their draft lists prepared, rosters are being cut down to 53 people, and fans are getting ready to cheer on the latest draft picks. For the IT organizations at the NFL teams, it means ensuring the infrastructure can support game day operations, the tens of thousands of fans that attend each game, and other activities surrounding the stadium.
Cisco has been the vendor of choice for many sports teams, and last week the company announced an expansion of its relationship with the NFL and six more teams by providing the franchises and their stadium properties with AI-enabled enterprise networking and cybersecurity technologies.
The Arizona Cardinals, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, Las Vegas Raiders, and Miami Dolphins join the New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers as Cisco partners to leverage the company’s latest connectivity and security technologies. While there are many vendors that provide infrastructure to various sports teams across the different leagues, Cisco’s approach has been to deliver a “full stack” offering that includes the network, security, observability and other aspects of infrastructure.
(For more sports tech initiatives, read about University of Notre Dame’s stadium upgrade and the PGA Tour’s AI-generated shot commentary.)
I’ve had many discussions with IT leaders from teams that use Cisco infrastructure, and they’ve told me the end-to-end solution helps simplify operations, which is critical for NFL teams as the IT staffs for these organizations are typically very small. These teams don’t have the bandwidth and often the technical skills to be managing dozens of vendors, so the platform approach provides significant benefits over trying to cobble together a collection of point products.
At the recent NFL TAC meetings, I met with Tim Coogan, who was then SVP of commercial sales, and asked him about how Cisco helps the NFL clubs. And to no surprise, he brought up data and AI. He told me: “We think about the use cases for data and how it can be used to improve operations. As an example, data and AI can be used to help secure a facility, but that data can also be used to craft a customized or curated experience. These are two use cases that are important to almost every NFL club, and we want to be the ubiquitous provider of that platform that allows that data to move freely.”
Cisco has been aggressive in its platform strategy, and the willingness of six more teams to embrace it demonstrates the maturity of its AI-ready infrastructure.
Cisco has been an official NFL partner for the past five seasons. Aaron Amendolia, the NFL’s deputy CIO, cited the vendor’s delivery of “world-class networking and cybersecurity solutions,” and said the league is pleased to see “so many more teams and venues taking advantage of Cisco’s expertise to better connect and protect their operations, venues, and fans.”
Just as playbooks and roster construction vary from team to team, each NFL franchise works with Cisco in different ways to meet its specific needs. The common thread is that the partnership teams leverage Cisco’s portfolio of products and solutions, from secure networking infrastructure and high-density Wi-Fi 7 to Cisco’s Hybrid Mesh Firewall, to improve fans’ digital experiences and protect club and stadium operations now and in the future.
Partnership extends to league events, including the Super Bowl
The NFL and Cisco partnership also includes deploying a networking and cybersecurity plan to ensure the smooth operation of the league’s major events, including the Super Bowl, NFL games played in international venues, and the annual NFL Draft. Massive amounts of data are created and transmitted at every NFL game and event. Preventing disruptions is paramount to smooth operations.
Cisco helps the NFL make sense of massive amounts of data so teams and the league office can respond to threats in real time to protect users and data. As part of that effort, Cisco technology is deployed in the replay control room of every NFL stadium, all of which are connected via Cisco’s network to the league’s Gameday Central in New York.
Eric Sudol, chief revenue officer of Tepper Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Carolina Panthers and operates Bank of America Stadium, said Cisco’s secure networking enables the team to enhance operations “from game-day operations to the digital experience our fans enjoy—ensuring seamless connectivity and reliability at every level.”
Final thoughts
If you’re a fan of the NFL, you’ll notice big changes over the next few seasons when it comes to fan experience as AI is enabling teams to do things they never could have before. The data the league and teams have will be used to deliver experiences that are more personalized and customized for each fan. This is causing every NFL team to turn to its technology ecosystem partners to deliver the experiences in a timely manner but also ensure the data is secured.
