Sport journalism is dead - long live sport journalism

In February 2023, just a few months after the launch of ChatGPT, the American giant Sports Illustrated announced that they would lay off journalists and create more content using AI. The move sparked outrage in the sports world and the owners, The Arena Group, published a statement. They said that the layoffs were part of a restructuring move and that "AI will never replace journalists or editors". Instead, they said that "We'll continue to experiment with AI software to help mine our vast archive and create more productive editing workflows." Nevertheless, it made a lot of Sport Journalists wonder; "Am I next?"

Google's flirt with the big publishers

The next player on the scene was the almighty Google itself. In July, The New York Times published an article detailing "Google Genesis", a secret project aimed at generating news stories for newspapers. The tool, described as a kind of personal assistant for journalists, can take in information — details of current events for example — and generate news content. According to sources, Google has pitched it to the Times, The Washington Post and News Corp, which owns The Wall Street Journal. Being true to themselves, Google declined to comment on it. Google has yet to release the product to a broader audience and it's not yet sure they will. It might just be released to a select few and trusted news organizations. We can only speculate what Genesis will look like and which types of events it will cover. But for sports news publishers, there is already something similar on the market. The company Attentionflow.ai has an automatic publishing tool for sports websites. It processes large amounts of sports data and generates articles. A typical article could be a match preview, a post game review or a league round recap. Unlike Google Genesis, it already exists and sport websites are already using it successfully. "The challenge is not how to produce content using AI, anyone can do that nowadays." Tore Friskopp, the founder of Attentionflow says. "The true challenge is what and when to publish. Our clients get the right content, at the right time, automatically. Our internal team of sports editors also fact check every article before it's published."

Technical development is not a new thing

Publishing is one of the most technology driven businesses. Newspapers and online publishers are always quick at adopting new tech. Word processing, spell check software and the digital camera all contributed to greater efficiency. No sports journalist today would ever be caught without their smartphone and an internet connection. Being able to update and publish straight from the stadium is a must. Just like the sports journalist of tomorrow won't be without an AI helping them draft the first copy.

The problem AI solves

An AI can read vast amounts of data, pick what is interesting about a game and then write a piece about that data. Doing this manually is a time consuming task for any journalist. Having it done by a machine in advance saves time and allows the journalist to spend more time on other areas; like analyzing coaching strategies and players' form or doing real interviews with players and fans.

You won't be replaced by AI. You will be replaced by humans using AI.

Being able to produce game previews and match reports quickly, automatically and at a reasonable cost, opens the door to many opportunities. A newspaper or sports website can not only reduce their costs but also start to cover more leagues, more sports and in more languages. Reaching more fans and getting more traffic to their website as a result. "Whoever grabs those opportunities first will have an edge towards their competitors." Mr. Friskopp says. "We are already seeing new players entering the scene, utilizing software analyzing data and AI to generate drafts, starting to compete with the old and established publishers. Small companies are usually quicker to innovate and adapt to new technologies." Just like photographers who refused to make a shift to the digital camera, journalists working without the help of AI might find themselves at a disadvantage. It might be difficult for them to be as productive as their colleagues. You won't be replaced by AI, but you will be replaced by a human using AI.

The opportunities ahead

For the journalists and publishers who do choose to adopt the technology, there are many opportunities ahead.

Do more local coverage

Local teams and leagues usually don't get the attention they deserve from the big publishers. There has traditionally been a threshold that limits coverage.This is due to the cost benefit calculations that all businesses have to do. A league or team needs to have a big enough audience to make it feasible for a newspaper to invest in coverage. If an event is too small or local, it hasn't been financially viable to cover it. But that is in the past. With the help of generative AI, publishers can provide their readers more of the local stories.

Go deeper into the story

When you don't have to spend time and money on doing data rewrites, you can go deeper into the stories that matter. Interview players, coaches and fans. Spend more time on the human side of the story. Find that breaking story that will make a splash.

Cover more leagues and sports

This is another area where a change in the old cost/benefit calculation creates opportunities. Traditionally, the expensive work of finding a journalist that has knowledge about an obscure or foreign league or sport stopped publishers from pursuing that opportunity. As the cost drops it suddenly becomes financially viable to do such a coverage.

"We can cover almost any sport or league. As long as there is available data, we can cover it at a reasonable cost" Mr Firskopp, the founder of Attentionflow states. "Our system automatically analyzes traffic data and knows what to publish and when. Making it easy for publishers to widen their coverage."

The death and rebirth of Sport Journalism

The technology shift has presented many challenges but also many opportunities. Some things, like rewrites and data analysis, will never be done by a human again. But the new technology also brings new opportunities. A lower cost to produce completely changes the traditional cost/benefit analysis. Whoever grabs those opportunities will be able to do so much more than before. Deeper stories, more coverage and a greater reach. The future of sport journalism will be bright for whoever embraces it. Sport journalism is dead - long live Sport journalism..