The Philadelphia Union are partnering with artificial intelligence firm Theta Labs to launch a fan-facing AI agent in the team’s forthcoming mobile app.
The agent, which will launch with the app later this summer, will tap MLS match data (via the official MLS API) and Union-specific archives to answer fan queries about matchday information, team/player insights and merchandise/ticketing, among other topics.
“When you’re talking to people, you always hear the element of, like, ‘I just want to talk to a real person,’” Union CRO Charlie Slonaker told SBJ of the impetus behind the Theta Labs partnership. “If we can find a super efficient way to engage with our fans at scale, and have it be as if they were talking to one of our agents at the team, that’s what was appealing to us.”
The Union plan to direct fans to the app via QR codes around its home stadium, Subaru Park, and are designing it to be a hub for ticketing and team information. As part of their partnership, Theta Labs will also become the entitlement partner of the app.
Slonaker said the agent itself has yet to be branded but will feature a unique twist, as some of Theta’s prior sports-team-focused agents have. The agent the company developed for the NBA’s Rockets, as one example, was named “ClutchBot” after the team’s mascot, Clutch the Rocket Bear.
Using its Theta Edgecloud computing platform, Theta Labs has also developed agents for the NHL’s Golden Knights and Devils and MLS’ Earthquakes.
