The Operating System of Sport: How Salesforce Is Redefining the Future of the Football Industry
Digital transformation in modern football has moved beyond the initial digitisation phase and entered a new era: that of the Agentic Enterprise, where first-party data integration and autonomous AI redefine both fan experience and B2B business models. In this highly innovative landscape, Salesforce — serving as Main Partner of SFS 26 — stands out as a true operating system for sport, delivering a proven technological framework to Italian and international clubs alongside global entities like FIFA, Formula 1, and LA28.
Ahead of SFS 26, we explored the vision, strategies, and concrete solutions of the technology giant through an interview with Valerio Amicucci, Regional Vice President – Head of Enterprise Commercial at Salesforce Italy.
From global giants like FIFA and F1 to Italian clubs: how does the expertise gained at the world’s largest events translate into concrete solutions for our local football industry?
“Working alongside giants like FIFA and Formula 1 has allowed us to test and validate an architecture on a global scale that unifies every touchpoint into a true “operating system for sport”. Through Data 360, we enable Italian clubs to dismantle data silos by unifying ticketing, e-commerce, stadium access, and digital apps to build a single Fan 360° profile. On top of this data foundation, we deploy the innovation of Agentforce, launching autonomous AI agents capable of providing fans with 24/7 active customer care that reduces response times by up to 80% (as seen in F1), freeing up club staff for strategic activities.
On the B2B front, the maturity gained in major international events allows Italian clubs and leagues to radically evolve sponsorship and hospitality management. Thanks to the harmonization of first-party data, entities no longer sell simple pitch-side brand visibility to partners, but targeted engagement packages with a fully demonstrable and trackable ROI. This combination of fan base monetization and B2B commercial efficiency represents the concrete model we offer to the Italian Football Industry”.
One of the historic challenges for the sports industry is data fragmentation across ticketing, e-commerce, and digital channels. How does Data 360 help unify these sources into a single “Golden Profile” for an active, year-round dialogue?
“The real obstacle for sports organizations is not a lack of information, but its fragmentation across dozens of isolated systems. Data 360 addresses this complexity by processing massive volumes of information in real time to build a single “Golden Profile” or “Fan 360” for every fan, avoiding the costs and risks associated with physical data migration. We connect streams from ticketing, e-commerce, and social channels: through a sophisticated Identity Resolution engine, the system intelligently recognizes that the user scanning a ticket at the turnstile is the same person interacting on the app or leaving an unpurchased item in the online store cart.
The real leap forward lies in immediately activating this unified profile to extend the fan journey well beyond the 90 minutes of a match and maximize the crucial off-season phase. Our solutions dynamically segment audiences, enabling omnichannel campaigns and tailored journeys at every stage of engagement: from recommending preferred merchandise based on purchase history to delivering matchday promotions directly to smartphones. The fan experience stops being a mass communication and becomes a 1-to-1 conversation that keeps passion alive 365 days a year”.
Artificial Intelligence is the central trend in sports business. What are currently the most effective use cases for solutions like Agentforce that deliver immediate, measurable ROI?
“Immediate ROI use cases focus on high-volume automation and commercial optimization. In Customer Care and Matchday Experience, Agentforce operates as a 24/7 active assistant capable of autonomously managing recurring fan inquiries regarding ticketing, schedules, access, and stadium services. Examples like Tottenham Hotspur (with the “Ask Spurs” agent, which cut response times by 80%) or the UFL (which automated over 233,000 interactions per season with a lean staff) prove how clubs can eliminate fan wait times and cut management costs, allowing internal personnel to focus on higher-value activities”.
In motorsport and US sports, B2B data monetization is central. How do your solutions optimize partner management and the B2B commercial pipeline in football?
“With Data 360 and Clean Room technology, we empower clubs to monetize their fan base by offering sponsors profiled audience insights securely and in full compliance with privacy regulations. Instead of proposing generic ad space, football clubs can structure hyper-targeted sponsorship packages and demonstrate a tangible, trackable ROI to commercial partners.
At the same time, our solutions streamline the entire operational management of the B2B pipeline by unifying contacts, negotiations, hospitality inventory, and licensing on Sales Cloud. With Agentforce integration, AI agents automate commercial lead qualification, outbound prospecting, and contractual asset verification. This is the approach adopted by McLaren F1, where AI relieves partner managers of administrative duties to focus on strategic relationships, and it is the commercial governance model used by top clubs like FC Barcelona and AC Milan to accelerate sales cycles, eliminate inventory inefficiencies, and increase renewal values”.
From sustainability to the evolution of the Italian market: how are ESG principles integrated into your approach, and what specific characteristics do you observe in Italy?
“At Salesforce, technology is an enabler of responsible transformation: values like sustainability, inclusion, and ethics are natively integrated into our architecture. Through solutions like Net Zero Cloud, we support sports organizations in measuring and reducing their environmental footprint across the entire value chain, just as Formula 1 does to monitor global emissions with the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030.
In Italy, we observe an extraordinarily passionate fan base and clubs rapidly evolving from traditional sports entities into true “Media & Entertainment Enterprises”. AC Milan offers a clear example, having transformed its martech maturity from 5 to over 200 fan profiling attributes thanks to Data 360. The historical challenge in Italy lies in data fragmentation and lean organizational structures; we answer this challenge by providing a flexible architecture that unifies existing data sources without forcing clubs into complex infrastructure migrations”.
Looking ahead to the next five years, which trends will redefine the industry, and what key message do you want to share with the SFS 26 community as Main Partner?
“Over the next five years, we will witness the consolidation of the Agentic Enterprise, where Artificial Intelligence evolves from reactive and generative to autonomous. Through solutions like Agentforce and the flexibility of Headless 360 (which integrates advanced models like Claude), clubs will be supported by AI agents capable of executing complex tasks in both B2C and internal operations. On the commercial front, football entities will accelerate their transformation into Media Companies, making first-party data monetization via Data Clean Rooms and Zero Copy technology the primary driver of revenue growth.
Our presence as Main Partner at the Social Football Summit 2026 confirms the central role of digital transformation in sports and the clarity of our vision: Salesforce positions itself as the operating system for sport, the technological enabler guiding the industry into the new era of the Agentic Enterprise. The key message we want to share with the SFS community is that digital transformation is no longer just about collecting data, but activating it autonomously and in real time. At SFS 26, we look forward to driving pragmatic conversations with Italian football leaders, demonstrating through real success stories how innovation is within reach for every sports organization”.
