The Pitch: How Sport Could Make AI Twins Work Where Fashion Has (So Far) Failed ⚽
In fashion, replacing the model with an AI twin has read as exploitation. In football, replacing the commercial shoot could be viewed as protection...
Good morning and welcome to The Pitch.
This newsletter explores ideas discussed on The Pitch podcast, where Drew and I bring a theme, provocation or emerging idea from across the sports industry and pitch it to one another.
This week, we’re picking up on a thread (no pun intended) from our recent conversation on AI content creation.
The fashion industry has spent the past year or so taking flak for using AI twins to replace human models. Sport, oddly, might be the rare environment where the same technology gets a positive reception, and where the commercial upside is actually the more interesting story.
Enjoy, and let me know what you think!
P.S. We also have a case study from our sponsors at FANZO, which saw their tech solve specific problems for travelling fans, as well as UEFA EURO 2024’s official beer sponsor and their venue customers.
THE PITCH
In March 2025, H&M announced plans to create AI “digital twins” of thirty of its models for use in future marketing campaigns. Models would retain rights to their digital likenesses and be paid each time the twin was used. One of them, Mathilda Gvarliani, described her replica as “like me, without the jet-lag.”
Despite H&M’s transparency-first rollout, it did little to change the underlying narrative that the brand was replacing human labour with synthetic versions of it.
Creative unions raised concerns about job displacement for the makeup artists, hair stylists, and photographers, as well as the models, who would no longer be needed on set. Furthermore, the Model Alliance and Equity UK warned that without consent protections, full control over likeness, and fair pay, innovation would simply become a new form of extraction.
That is the story almost everywhere AI-generated content meets an industry. The default reaction is that the technology is taking something away, and the public is largely right to be sceptical in many instances.
Sport is the rare environment where that framing flips from exploitative to additive (hear me out…).
In general, athletes do not want to do commercial shoots. The kit launch, sponsor activation, studio day. These are all parts of the modern athlete’s job that most would happily do less of.
As Drew and I unpacked on the last episode of The Pitch, that inversion has commercial consequences that we think are difficult to overstate.
Imagine a scenario where each player at a football club consents to a controlled set of use cases (such as sponsor activations, kit reveals, reactive matchday content) with the club retaining approval rights over every output. In exchange, the players reclaim the afternoons that would have been spent in front of a sponsor’s camera, and the commercial team gains a content engine that can produce on-brand assets instantly.
I think for a team like Napoli, which owns its players’ image rights, this could be an especially interesting opportunity. However, the argument for any other club to also consider this is, in my view, three-fold:
The first is player welfare. Modern football already squeezes every available hour for performance from sleep tracking, recovery protocols, and individualised nutrition. Commercial obligations sit awkwardly inside that system as something contractually unavoidable but operationally inconvenient. An approved AI-twin pipeline lets clubs and players honour every sponsor commitment without putting another shoot on the calendar. For squads playing fifty-plus matches a season that is a genuine performance argument.
The second is increased sponsorship inventory and an ability to be more reactive. When an unlikely player scores the winner on a Saturday afternoon, the club has nothing pre-shot with him and so the breakout moment passes without activation because the assets do not exist. With approved digital twins, clubs and sponsors can drop the right player into reactive creative immediately.
It can also help to iron out other commercial challenges. For example, if a new shirt sponsor signs after the start of the season, there would be no need to pull the squad out of training to re-shoot the season’s campaign, the twins regenerate the assets.
The third is defensibility. AI tools, like Grok Imagine, Nano Banana, and Kling are already capable of generating synthetic imagery of footballers. Most of it is unsanctioned with wrong kits, outdated sponsors, unapproved likeness. Clubs can ignore this, in which case the open web becomes the default source of synthetic content involving their players and IP. Or they can build the better version themselves: a certified, club-run portal where fans generate approved imagery (such as themselves with the manager, in the dressing room, with the trophy, etc.) using likenesses the players have consented to and assets the club controls. In this case, every certified image carries the correct sponsor’s branding (because the inputs do).
Of course, there are always going to be trade-offs. Sponsors paying premium fees for player-fronted campaigns are partly paying for the authentic athlete in front of the camera. AI twins exchange some of that authenticity for flexibility and volume. A club would need the brand to buy into the fact that instead of getting three hours of access once a season, they could instead get reactive, on-brand content all year round, tied to the moments that matter to fans. For most categories, that could be seen as a trade worth making.
In fashion, replacing the model with an AI twin has read as exploitation. In football, replacing the commercial shoot could be viewed as protection. So, where H&M announced early and has (so far) failed, there’s a chance a sport organisation might be the environment where AI twins are initially meaningfully and successfully adopted.
SPONSORED BY FANZO
Case Study: Turning An Uncoordinated Ecosystem Into A Brand New UEFA Sponsorship Asset ⚽️
How FANZO’s tech solved specific problems for travelling fans, the tournament’s official beer sponsor, and their venue customers. And created a brand new sponsorship asset at UEFA EURO 2024 in the process.
THE PITCH
On this episode of The Pitch, Andy and Drew reimagine the team social media playbook, exploring what would happen if clubs blew up their internal social departments and handed the keys to a rotating cast of fans or creators.
The conversation then shifts into the rapidly evolving world of AI content creation, from AI-generated podcast host avatars that can scale ad reads, to AI twins of athletes that could transform how clubs produce commercial content.
The duo unpack the surprising upside for players, the sponsor inventory opportunities hiding inside club archives, and the creative potential of remastering iconic footage or even simulating matchups between historic teams.
Finally, Andy pitches an idea born from his own cricket experience: a grassroots sponsorship fund that would let national brands extend their partnerships down to the amateur club level, giving volunteer-run clubs a ready-made commercial model and giving sponsors unmatched local affinity.
Timestamps
1:00 - Creator Takeover Social Strategy
4:00 - Inside a Team Social Department
8:00 - Algorithm Volume and Club Creator Labs
14:00 - AI Tools, Editing, and Podcast Host Avatars
18:00 - AI Twins for Players and Commercial Shoots
24:00 - Unlocking Archive Footage as Sponsor Inventory
28:00 - Remastering History and Dream Team Matchups
31:00 - Grassroots Sponsorship Fund Pitch
36:00 - Exploring Feasibility in the UK vs USA
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The Pitch is the conversational show from the Sports Pundit Podcast Network, hosted by Andy Marston and Drew Rauso.
It’s a play on words, with each host bringing an idea, theme, or provocation that they pitch to the other. Together they react, debate, and explore what’s really happening across the sports industry, from shifting media models to the next wave of innovation.
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About The Hosts
Drew Rauso is a versatile media operator with a proven track record of building and scaling sports media ventures at the intersection of content, commerce, and creator strategy. He currently leads Brand, Strategy, and Operations at Playmaker HQ, a leading sports podcast network owned by Better Collective, home to shows featuring Shaquille O’Neal, Angel Reese, and Marshawn Lynch. Previously at The Players’ Tribune, Drew has been instrumental in shaping athlete-driven media, overseeing partnerships, production, and growth initiatives that connect fans and talent in meaningful ways.
Andy Marston is the founder of Sports Pundit, a community and media platform for sports and technology executives. Through a weekly newsletter, podcast network, lively group chat, and regular social events, he shares industry analysis and connects leaders across the sector. Alongside Sports Pundit, Andy leads Corporate Venture at athlete-backed venture firm, The Players Fund, where he works with high-profile sports IP such as Como 1907 and Juventus to design venture strategies and drive innovation initiatives.
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I'm pretty sure that the currently ongoing Indian Premier League (sponsored coincidentally by Google Gemini) is using AI twins of the players, so that might be something to track?