106 Chris Freet on AI, Fan Loyalty & the Evolution of Sports Technology

Chris Freet is the Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at ⁠WMT Digital⁠. On this episode, we discuss how teams, leagues, and entertainment organizations are rethinking fan engagement in the modern era.Chris shares insights from nearly two decades working inside college athletics before helping scale WMT Digital into one of the leading fan data and engagement platforms in sports. The conversation dives into first-party data, fan ownership, AI-driven personalization, loyalty programs, NIL-driven revenue shifts in college sports, and why organizations must stop optimizing only for attendance and start optimizing for “fan economics.”They also discuss how leading teams are building year-round fan relationships, the growing importance of data infrastructure, and what sports executives and entrepreneurs need to understand about the future of the industry.