The basics:

• HCLTech named Official AI Partner of MetLife Stadium, Jets, Giants
• Artificial intelligence will focus on fan experiences, stadium operations
• Partnership builds on HCLTech’s digital transformation role since 2022
• Sports venues serve as testing grounds for enterprise AI solutions

HCLTech is doubling down on sports partnerships, viewing them as more than just branding opportunities.

The global technology company, which has its U.S. East Coast headquarters in East Brunswick, recently extended and expanded its Cornerstone Partnership with MetLife Stadium, the New York Jets and the New York Giants, adding a new role as the organizations’ Official AI Partner.

While the agreement builds on HCLTech’s position as the stadium’s Official Digital Transformation Partner since 2022, executives say the latest phase reflects a broader shift in how the company is approaching sports partnerships worldwide.

The new agreement builds on themes NJBIZ has previously explored in its coverage of the company, including HCLTech’s growing New Jersey presence and the company’s use of the MetLife Stadium partnership to strengthen its brand while showcasing its digital transformation capabilities.

Rather than treating sports venues as merely branding opportunities, HCLTech increasingly views them as real-world environments to develop, test and demonstrate technologies that can ultimately apply across industries. That strategy now stretches beyond the NFL into global golf, where the company recently announced a multiyear partnership with the DP World Tour focused on transforming the fan experience through digital technology.

Relationship building

“I think the way we look at it is that it’s kind of the next phase of our relationship,” Abhishek Atree, HCLTech’s global head of brand strategy and sports partnerships, told NJBIZ during a recent interview. “Our relationship has been extremely strong. We were signed as the official digital transformation partner in September 2022 and we’ve been doing some work around technology with them since then. Most of the focus when we get into sports engagement and sports partnerships is, how do we get the fan closer to the sport? That really is the narrative. That really is the theme that we usually work with.

[H]ow do we get the fan closer to the sport?
—Abhishek Atree, global head of brand strategy and sports partnerships, HCLTech

“As we wanted to extend the partnership into another multiyear agreement, we thought that AI is a very interesting field for us. It is the future of technology in many ways, and we feel that the role this technology is going to play in terms of creating personalized fan experiences, more connected environments for the stadium – that really is an interesting play, a lot of practicality to how AI is applied to large-scale environments like MetLife Stadium,” he continued.

“We were discussing with MetLife Stadium and the Jets and the Giants – and I think we have a great relationship. So, we thought, let’s explore the AI partnership category and, thankfully, we are where we are today. They selected us as an official AI partner.”

AI at MetLife

While HCLTech is not yet announcing specific AI deployments at the stadium, the company said the designation creates new opportunities.

“We’re in an exploratory phase,” he explained. “I can talk a bit about where this might go and where this might evolve into. Definitely, I think creating more personalized fan experiences is a part of that. We want to make sure that the technology that we create allows the fans to experience the sport in a better way, whether it’s online or whether it’s in the stadium. That’s definitely one aspect of it.

“The stadium itself is an extremely complex entity. There are hundreds of thousands of fans that visit the stadium for matches, for concerts. How do you make sure that their experience in the stadium is optimized, it’s connected and it is efficient? All of that is again a great area from an AI perspective to play into.”

He added that the potential extends beyond customer-facing experiences.

“There are also efficiencies and optimizations that come in with AI. Whether it’s saving costs or making sure that something which is working with a certain speed and efficiency is working faster now and it’s working better now, that’s another area that’s worth exploration.

“At the heart of it we really want to create a better experience for the fans. We want to create a more connected environment in the stadium, make it run more efficiently in a more optimized manner. All of those are the areas where I think AI brings in a lot of value.”

A hub for sports-entertainment

The expanded MetLife partnership arrives as the stadium prepares for one of the busiest stretches in its history, including the ongoing FIFA World Cup, another NFL season and a packed concert calendar.

HCLTech branding is prominent throughout the venue – including at its own HCLTech Gate, a suite and more. However, those signs are covered during the World Cup because the company is not an official partner of FIFA, which has extremely strict rules about signage and sponsors, hence NYNJ Stadium instead of MetLife Stadium during the tournament and down the line.

Executives believe the long-term association with one of the country’s highest-profile venues continues to provide significant value beyond game days.

“It’s been really great for us in many ways,” Atree explained. “One is, obviously, the fact that this happens to be right in the middle of an extremely busy area in terms of sports-entertainment, a lot of activities happening. As an organization, we were born in India. We are a global organization. We have operations in more than 60 countries.

HCLTech expands NJ presence

While luring staff back to the office

HCLTech employs more than 220,000 people across 60 countries. And it’s growing its footprint in New Jersey with a new East Coast headquarters in East Brunswick. Take a look.

“For us to have a physical space here where the audiences and the fans and passersby can see the HCLTech brand and the logo on a big stadium like MetLife Stadium was a big deal for us,” he continued. “I think the tangibility and the physicality of the brand being there in front of your eyes in person was a big play for us.

“What we also realized is that the engagement that we create with our clients and executives has actually increased year on year. Usually what you suspect is – look, everybody’s been to the games, been to these concerts. There’s a saturation that comes in when you want to create those kinds of experiences,” said Atree. “But that really has gone up. Which means the word of mouth is spreading.

“Today if you talk about MetLife Stadium, Jets and Giants and HCLTech, a lot of people nod their heads and say, ‘Yeah, I’ve been there. I’ve been in the suite.’”

Attracting talent

The company believes that visibility also strengthens recruiting and employee engagement, with Atree noting that talent recruitment and retention are a key part of the strategy.

“It has helped us incredibly here in the U.S. with MetLife Stadium, Jets and Giants,” he said. “And that happens to be, too, across the world. From a talent perspective, being a global brand, it helps us be more relatable to that segment. When you’re working for a company that is a partner to the DP World Tour or MetLife Stadium, Jets and Giants, it creates a bit of familiarity and a bit of resonance with the individual, their families and the background they’re coming from.

“It creates a sense of pride to join in.”

That philosophy also influenced HCLTech’s newest sports investment.

In April, just one day before the expanded MetLife Stadium partnership, the company announced it had become the Official Digital Experience Partner of the DP World Tour, the men’s professional golf European Tour. Under the agreement, it will lead a multiyear effort to redesign the tour’s website, mobile app and digital platforms while also serving as an official marketing partner across several European tournaments.

Teeing off with DP World Tour

Atree said the relationship began not as a sponsorship conversation but as a technology engagement.

“They approached us as a client first,” he said. “They were looking for a digital transformation partner because golf, unlike some of the other sports, is extremely tough to watch on screen.

“You are switching devices. One time you’re watching on a screen, then you switch to your iPad, then you switch to your laptop, then your phone as you’re traveling. You’re trying to keep scores on the players that you follow,” he continued.

“I think fan experience, fan engagement and how fans consume the sport, the information is extremely important to the DP World Tour, and that’s where they brought us in,” said Atree. “So, we are the official digital experience partners. We’re responsible for building the digital backbone, from a fan-experience perspective.”

Under the partnership, HCLTech will help modernize the digital experience for golf fans across platforms.

“Our job is to make it more connected and to make it more personalized,” said Atree, stressing a focus to make the experience more seamless and integrated.

Eurotour

The golf partnership also supports HCLTech’s broader business strategy in Europe.

“Europe is a key market for us,” said Atree. “We created a lot of brand impact, visibility, awareness and engagement here in the U.S. thanks to MetLife Stadium, Jets and Giants, and we wanted something similar in Europe as well.”

He noted that Europe has multiple regions so it was key to find an opportunity and a partnership that was more mobile and moving, which made the tour a great fit.

Despite operating in different sports and on different continents, Atree said both partnerships are built around the same philosophy.

“I love to call it the perfect sandbox to experiment, implement and really scale technologies,” Atree said. “AI or any other technology is no longer just in an experimentation phase. It’s getting into an implementation phase. It’s getting into a phase where you need to see results, and I think nothing beats a venue like MetLife Stadium, and brands like the Jets and the Giants.

“There is so much data and so much analysis happening that allows us to create these kinds of technologies. I find sports to be extremely beneficial, useful and a really great platform to try this kind of stuff.”

The coming culture convergence

He stressed that these partnerships and collaborations are about way more than just slapping your logos on it.

Looking ahead, Atree expects artificial intelligence to become increasingly intertwined with sports as teams, venues and leagues seek new ways to improve experiences for fans while generating measurable business value.

“I feel that more and more sports partnerships are probably going to get down to an area where they are going to have some elements of AI into it,” he explained. “Hopefully, we are part of that. Hopefully, we sign more partnerships. We play that role and learn more from it and apply it to other partnerships. That’s how I really see sports going.

“And I feel culturally it’s going to be really a convergence of a lot of things: there’s sports, there’s entertainment, there’s obviously localization, there’s culture, there’s data, there’s technology. Just the way it is as a platform, I think there’s going to be a lot convergence that’s going to come into sports as a field.”

Atree summed up how the company evaluates current and future partnerships.

“Our approach is always to make sure that we play a very meaningful role from a technology perspective,” said Atree. “DP World Tour were looking for a digital transformation partner and that’s how we started talking. And then, the marketing partnership sort of came into being. If we find a platform or a property or a sports entity that has great possibilities, great avenues to play from a fan engagement perspective, fan technology, that really is the anchor that we want to drive.”