Beyond the Arena: How Fan Data is Fueling a New Sports Media Empire

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – March 24, 2026 – Pacers Sports & Entertainment (PS&E) today announced a move that could fundamentally reshape the business of professional sports, launching a sophisticated media platform that transforms fan passion into a premium, year-round advertising asset. The new venture, dubbed the Fieldhouse Media Network, leverages artificial intelligence and a massive trove of fan data to create what the organization calls a "first-of-its-kind" global media channel.

Developed in a landmark collaboration with consulting giant Deloitte and ad-tech firm Yieldmo, the network aims to provide brands with measurable, targeted access to one of the most coveted audiences in media: the dedicated sports fan. This initiative signals a strategic pivot from traditional, in-venue sponsorship to a sprawling digital ecosystem, potentially setting a new playbook for sports franchises worldwide.

A New Model for Monetization

For decades, the value of a sports team partnership was measured in physical visibility—logos on jerseys, courtside banners, and broadcast integrations. The Fieldhouse Media Network seeks to shatter that limited framework. By applying the model of a retail media network, pioneered by giants like Amazon and Kroger, PS&E is the first professional sports organization to build a similar advertising engine powered not by purchase history, but by authenticated fandom.

The network extends a partner's reach far beyond game day and the geographic confines of Indiana. It allows brands to place personalized advertising wherever fans are consuming content—across a network of over 500 premium digital publications, email and SMS campaigns, and connected television. This represents a shift from a seasonal, event-based model to a continuous, year-round media presence.

“Salesforce remains the core of our technical infrastructure and has enabled us to build one of the most valuable databases in sports," said PS&E Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer Joey Graziano in the announcement. "By layering on the expertise of Deloitte and Yieldmo, we’re rewriting the business of professional sports by building a global media network powered by fans – extending the value of fandom beyond the arena, grounded in rich customer insights, activated through performance media and designed to deliver measurable growth, global scale, and ROI for brand partners.”

The scale is significant. PS&E notes that in the last year alone, authenticated ticket purchasers and visitors to Gainbridge Fieldhouse have come from all 50 U.S. states and 57 countries, providing a rich, international foundation for the network's data pool.

The Post-Cookie Playbook

The timing of the launch is critical, as the digital advertising world grapples with the deprecation of third-party cookies and heightened consumer privacy concerns. The Fieldhouse Media Network is positioned as a forward-thinking solution, built from the ground up to operate in a privacy-safe, cookieless environment by leveraging first-party data.

At the heart of the operation are two key technological pillars. The first is Converge™ by Deloitte for Sports, a fan data platform that aggregates and authenticates information from what the partners claim is a pool of approximately 250 million global sports and entertainment fans. Research indicates this platform moves beyond basic demographics to build a "rich proprietary data fabric," analyzing fan behaviors, brand affinities, and even life stages to create detailed audience segments. This allows the network to identify not just a fan of the Indiana Fever, but a fan who also shows a strong interest in luxury automobiles.

“Deloitte is helping Pacers Sports & Entertainment exceed traditional market boundaries to operate like a national media enterprise," explained Li-Shen Lee, a Principal at Deloitte Consulting LLP. "We help transform fan data into a trusted, activation-ready asset that turns engagement into revenue."

The second pillar is Yieldmo's YMax.ai, an AI-powered advertising platform with a dedicated sports vertical. Once Deloitte's platform identifies a target audience segment, Yieldmo’s AI activates it. The platform "reads the open web in real time," according to company materials, to find the perfect moment and context to serve an ad. For example, when that Fever fan who likes cars reads an article about a star player's performance, YMax.ai can bid on ad space within that article to deliver a targeted message from a sponsor like Lexus in real time.

“We’re building a media and performance engine designed to unlock more value for sports partnerships,” said Eric Herd, Global Head of Sports & Emerging Products at Yieldmo. This combination of authenticated data and AI-driven activation is designed to offer brands a level of precision and measurability that has been difficult to achieve in traditional sports marketing.

The Unique Value of Fandom

The entire premise of the Fieldhouse Media Network rests on a simple but powerful idea: sports fans are not a typical digital audience. Their engagement is not passive; it is passionate, loyal, and recurring. Fans actively seek out content about their teams, players, and rivals. They engage across seasons and years, creating a consistent pattern of high attention that makes them exceptionally receptive to relevant brand messaging.

This network allows brands to become part of the conversation during major cultural moments. When a team makes a thrilling playoff push, completes a blockbuster trade, or a star player hits a milestone, fan attention converges across countless digital platforms. The network is designed to place brands directly within those high-intensity environments, capitalizing on peak engagement.

Initial partners set to benefit from this expanded reach include existing PS&E sponsors such as Gainbridge, Lexus, and Eli Lilly. For these brands, the network offers the ability to connect with national and international audiences that align with their specific marketing goals, extending the value of their sponsorship far beyond the local market. The model promises a clear return on investment by linking advertising spend directly to a highly qualified, deeply engaged, and now, precisely measurable audience.

By transforming its fan base into a sophisticated media asset, Pacers Sports & Entertainment is not just creating a new revenue stream; it is proposing a new definition of what a sports organization can be. It is a bold wager that the future of sports business lies not just in selling tickets or broadcast rights, but in harnessing the immense, untapped commercial power of fandom itself. The rest of the sports world will undoubtedly be watching to see if this innovative play scores.