Pro Sports IT: Carl Ceresoli, Indiana Pacers CTO and CISO, Offers Courtside View of Tech Management

Following the end of the NBA season and ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, I sat down with Carl Ceresoli, Chief Technology & Security Officer for the Indiana Pacers, to discuss the unique role tech leaders have within a professional basketball organization and what new technologies are being utilized by NBA teams.

The Pacers had a busy season in 2023-2024. Indianapolis hosted the NBA All-Star game in the middle of the season. And the Pacers went deep into the playoffs to reach the Eastern Conference Finals (where they lost to eventual champion, Boston Celtics). In our conversation, Ceresoli, who has held his position since 2017, discusses how leading IT at a professional sports franchise means shifting quickly from different priorities in a single day, the importance of technology in the fan experience, and the critical cybersecurity work required to ensure that events occur without disruption.

Charley Betzig: What is unique about running tech for the Pacers?

Carl Ceresoli: I’ve found that it’s especially important to be nimble in the sports world. Flexibility is not in the job description, but it’s absolutely a requirement for my day-to-day work. Part of my job requires me to be pulled in hundreds of directions. NBA teams are not public companies, but they are public entities. The Pacers develop and maintain several close relationships with the city of Indianapolis, various sponsors, and local organizations, among other stakeholders. As a result, frequently I am brought into various conversations beyond just running the tech side of the business.

The 2024 NBA All Star Game, which the Pacers hosted, drew me in several directions at once to work with various partners and activations, and forced me to be extra flexible in my daily workflow while preparing. For example, I spent a week with my team volunteering at a local pre-school which had been selected for a technology overhaul, and the next day was speaking at a cyber review with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. The Pacers are engrained in the community and, as a result, expect us to lean into community involvement, which keeps me on my toes, but is incredibly rewarding.

How has digital transformation impacted the Pacers organization?

We’ve seen a continued massive push to implement more technology into live sporting events and within NBA organizations. Today, most arenas now operate like any other major business. Ten years ago, professional sports were an analog and mechanical industry. You could walk into an arena, hit a light switch, and watch the lights heat up for several minutes. Today, those lights are all IP addresses. There have been huge advancements in how tech is seamlessly incorporated into all facets of the game, including the fan experience, video, and security, among others. Every aspect of the game and team is enabled and supported by cutting-edge tech elements. And then consider the corporation responsible for everything, staffed by numerous workers and equipped with financial, and customer management systems and software.

The industry has advanced in the last decade, but the challenge when I first walked in the door appealed to me. My initial goals were to assess the technology environment, build a team to achieve our goals, and reach a point where we could reliably lean on the infrastructure. We also ensured that the applications performed at a stable and secure level, providing the end users what they needed. An example of that was building a best-in-class cybersecurity practice that is leading the industry. We’ve also upgraded, enhanced, and modernized our technology for the fan experience, including video capabilities, AI and cutting-edge broadcast studios.

Since I joined, I’m very proud to say that my team has overhauled, upgraded and modernized every aspect of our technological environment.

How do you lead your team to drive this transformation?

I’m grateful that I have been able to build out a team of 18 incredibly talented, smart, and driven tech executives that have allowed me to transform the Pacers’ technology. While I may be the team captain laying out strategy, the entire team must work collaboratively to solve challenges, implement our vision, achieve goals, and drive change. We take that approach daily as a team, but also with the larger organization. I'm convinced that hiring the right individuals, equipping them with necessary resources, and giving them autonomy leads to outstanding outcomes.

Did this year’s playoff run bring any new challenges?

Like the All-Star Game, hosting playoff games historically brings increased traffic and, as a result, an increased focus on cybersecurity. Since lighting management, building management, in-arena studios, digital signage systems, and more are all on networks that are connected in one way or another to each other, there’s several opportunities to disrupt an event which would be detrimental to the organization and fans alike. For the All-Star Game, we spent many, many months working with federal, state, and local authorities to ensure a smooth and safe experience. This wasn’t the case for bigger events ten years ago, but now we need to be ready to defend the organization from seemingly endless potential cyber threats. The potential for cyber risks always is my biggest concern and we are laser-focused on minimizing those risks.

What technologies are coming down the pike that will impact fan experience?

Sports technology is always fun and provides our organization with the opportunity to directly improve how fans experience events both in-person and virtually. As one example, we are in the early stages of discussing and developing in-arena betting platforms for fans in the near future. The challenge, however, is implementing infrastructure that can offer these services with guaranteed quality. Our wireless infrastructure is best-in-class, but even still, we have a lot of work to do before we can guarantee connection that allows fans to make real-time wagers.

AI is finding its way into everything, and pro sports is no exception. We’re utilizing AI to track advanced stats on players’ performance tendencies, in addition to assisting slow motion replays during broadcasts. Replays shown on our large center screen are completely redrawn by AI in a matter of seconds to create incredible detailed super-slow-motion playbacks. AI has replaced traditional closed captioning systems in our arena. In collaboration with our close partner Microsoft, we developed a closed captioning, real-time translation service for guest at the fieldhouse. AI takes our in-arena audio feed and instantly delivers voice-to-text captioning to anyone’s mobile device. Guests can also opt to have that audio translated in real-time to almost any language they desire.

As a sports fan and as a tech executive, there has never been a more exciting time to be in the space.