Iwao Fusillo was hired as the New York Jets’ chief data and analytics officer in January, overseeing both business and football analytics. Since then, his main focus has been twofold, he told SBJ. This means continuing to drive the development of internal analytical applications (such as coaching/scouting and business intelligence) and the use of AI across the organization. The latter is an initiative that team owner Woody Johnson officially began two years ago. Fusillo said 91% of the Jets’ front office now uses Microsoft Copilot on a daily basis, and users are generating an average of two to three prompts per day, up from “few” about 100 days ago.
“I call it Level 1 or Horizon 1, which is adoption,” Fusillo said, referring to his personal three-level framework for AI adoption within the enterprise (Levels 2 and 3 represent deeper levels of workflow automation). “Are there significant business benefits from that Level 1? No. But has the culture across the front office changed? Yes. Because we’re putting AI first.”
Fusillo predicts tangible business results as the Jets progress to “Level 2” of the AI learning curve, which he dubbed the “Workflow Automation” stage. Fusillo said the Jets are already using AI to help in areas such as sponsor research, revenue adjustment and, on the football side, structuring data from player doctors’ evaluations at the draft combine.
“We have over 20 implementations in Level 2,” Fusillo said, noting that these implementations are expected to result in double-digit improvements in metrics such as revenue and productivity. “What many companies don’t realize is that if you don’t do Level 1, [early adopters] They are exactly the right person to identify which Level 2 applications we should pursue. ”
Fusillo, who held data and analytics leadership roles at PepsiCo, General Motors, the NFL and American Express before joining the Jets, said his approach to getting buy-in from Jets front office members included conducting listening tours in the team cafeteria and speaking with employees about his and their own AI habits.
He also credited the continued partnership with Next League for spearheading the AI education process. Shripal Shah, Next League’s chief AI and innovation officer, led a team of six Next League staffers with expertise in areas ranging from business intelligence to sponsorship to social media marketing to conduct AI workshops with Jets employees over several months. Fushiro added that department-level workshops led by Shah generated more than 60 ideas for implementing AI on the business side, and “probably double that” on the football side. Shah cited the sponsorship prospect as an example of how Next League can foster productive AI conversations and ultimately AI adoption.
“Using this as a basic example, you can learn how to do it in just a little bit of time and the light bulb is there. You can see it in people’s body language and in people’s faces,” Shah said. “What you actually bring is [use-cases] The introduction to the workshop was a real accelerator. And the Jets, to their credit, accepted it. ”
For more information on the Jets and Next League partnership, check out this week’s article. SBJ Live. Next League is the presenting partner of SBJ Tech Week and the SBA: Tech Next in Sports Tech: Rising Woman of the Year award, which highlights emerging talent in the sports technology field.
