The Kraft Group CIO Michael Israel On The ‘Enormous’ NWN Deal And How AI Is Changing Decision-Making
“The economic impact is how do we get smarter and how do we drive efficiencies and the guest experience,” said Israel. “If the guest experience is better, people are going to stay longer and they are going to buy more. The more modern we become, the more we transform, the more efficient we become.”
The Kraft Group CIO Michael Israel said the “enormous” five-year strategic partnership with NWN is going to leverage the power of AI to make all of The Kraft Group’s businesses, including The New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium, more efficient.
“The economic impact is how do we get smarter and how do we drive efficiencies and the guest experience,” said Israel of the partnership aimed at overhauling the existing Gillette Stadium IT infrastructure for the AI era. “If the guest experience is better, people are going to stay longer and they are going to buy more. The more modern we become, the more we transform, the more efficient we become.”
Israel said he is looking for AI to move beyond older business knowledge systems that put dashboards and reports in front of managers but were never acted upon.
“You did not change behavior as a result of the reports and dashboards,” he said. “But now because AI is becoming so advanced you are able to automate the low-hanging decision processes. It is allowing our people to step up higher in terms of what they are doing.”
Israel, who has brought AI systems to Gillette Stadium to ensure fan safety and also brought AI innovation to The Kraft Group companies, said among the areas where AI can be deployed is taking ticket orders over a phone with the ability to add in extras like a meal package, a fast entry lane or mobile wallet purchases at Gillette Stadium.
The NWN deal includes network upgrades, modernized cloud collaboration solutions and AI-enabled applications to improve the Gillette Stadium experience for fans and players of the New England Patriots and the New England Revolution soccer team.
“The amount of technology spend that’s going to be coming during this period related to transforming our networks is unprecedented,” said Israel. “We have not done something as enormous as this during our history here.”
Over the last six years as CIO, Israel has led a technology renaissance at Gillette Stadium and The Kraft Companies that includes a new IPTV (internet protocol television) network, the deployment of 5G, Wi-Fi 6 with over 1,500 wireless access points, and an AI-based automated raw material detection system for one of the Kraft Group businesses.
Israel said his IT department is unique among the other NFL teams because of the breadth and depth of the businesses it supports for The Kraft Group.
“We self-operate,” said Israel of The Kraft Group’s businesses that his IT department supports. “The Krafts own this operation. We own the stadium. We own our concessions. We run our own security. It is our staff. We don’t outsource any of this. If you go to a SoFi Stadium or Allegiant, the team may or may not even own the stadium. They are a tenant. Here we self-operate. We own it. We run it. So whatever we are doing to enhance that experience, we are in control of that.
“Essentially, we control our own destiny,” he said. “When you go to a SoFi Stadium they have an unbelievable network there, but that network is a utility. You have tenants coming in to use it, whereas here we are driving change that impacts us and our organization as a whole.”
Here is more of CRN’s conversation with Israel.
Has the Kraft Group ever done a deal with a technology solution provider that is as far-reaching and covers as much ground as this deal?
It’s one of our largest commitments and it comes with a tremendous amount of change that’s going to happen over the next five to seven years, including Gillette Stadium and the proposed new soccer stadium in Everett. The amount of technology spend that’s going to be coming during this period related to transforming our networks is unprecedented. We have not done something as enormous as this during our history here.
How big an influence is the ability to change the game in terms of the fan experience and the Kraft Group companies with AI?
AI is an interesting piece of this. We are probably like 18 months into AI getting the amount of attention it has and becoming a buzzword. Machine learning has been around for quite some time, but this has been the buzzword for the last 18 months.
The focus across the entire enterprise that has really gained a lot of steam is looking at what can we do with the existing data that we already have. If you think about the history of data in the enterprise, you have had reports and dashboards. But what would happen is you would send the reports out to folks and what would happen with those reports? Nothing. Then you put dashboards in place and you would have nice red, yellow and green codes to make decisions. And what would people do with them? Nothing.
You did not change behavior as a result of the reports and dashboards. But now because AI is becoming so advanced you are able to automate the low-hanging decision processes. It is allowing our people to step up higher in terms of what they are doing.
Data entry is an example. You don’t need data entry clerks. With different RPA [robotic process automation] and AI tools you can turn around and have those systems do that. You can take your folks and move them into higher-level positions where they can analyze what is actually going on.
Do you need a person to sit and answer the phone to sell tickets? Couldn’t a bot do that? That is low-hanging fruit. You don’t have to retrain a bot on how to add in a meal package or add in extras to a ticket package. You have to train employees to do that.
It is these types of things that we are looking at in terms of how we engage with either our guests coming in or our factory workers. It is all about how can we use the tools that are now really coming at us every single day to just change the way we do business.
Is this the biggest capital expenditure The Kraft Group has ever made when you look at what you are doing with this agreement with NWN?
On the network side because of how much is lining up together with the multiple stadiums and other things it’s our biggest multiyear networking opportunity.
We’ve had other large-scale projects in the past. We’ve done a large DR [disaster recovery] and Cybersecurity Command Center, but this is the largest networking project when you look at how much is lined up over the next five years.
How important is the network investment in terms of the AI future you are planning for The Kraft Group?
The key here is nothing happens without the network and without the speed of the network and without the network being at the forefront of all of this.
So if a guest is walking up to the front gate and I’m using facial recognition for a fast entry lane, if the network’s not fast the line backs up. So it is what is facilitating everything that we’re talking about here.
If you’re walking up to a concession stand and you no longer have to take your credit card out and you’re using a digital wallet, the network better be fast enough to keep that line going.
What has gotten the Kraft family most excited about moving forward with this deal in terms of the potential for the fans, customers and employees?
[Chairman and CEO of The Kraft Group] Robert [Kraft] and [The Kraft Group President] Jonathan [Kraft] are very engaged throughout the entire enterprise. Jonathan will challenge me, asking me, ‘Michael, what are you going to do to help push us further? What are you going to do to part the seas to get things moving and to break away from the this is always how we’ve done it mentality?’ Jonathan is always pushing and asking, ‘What tools can we use to help the business move forward?’
I talked to you last time you were here about some of the things we’re doing with video AI. Today we’re able to use video analytics to analyze how a truck is getting loaded so we can be alerted not to release a truck out of the bay because it’s loaded incorrectly and it could tip over.
We have 3,000-pound rolls of paper so we know not ship it if it is damaged. We are not talking about an Amazon box. You need to be able to detect if that roll of paper is damaged. With AI you can detect that so it hits the network and the system alerts you to replace that roll of paper. You want to do that proactively as opposed to shipping a tractor trailer out and then getting a phone call two hours later asking, ‘Why did you ship me that damaged roll of paper?’
Here at the stadium it is the same type of processes we are looking at. With video AI we can see we are running low at a concession stand and dispatch someone to restock it. If someone needs hot dogs on the 300 level it is going to create an alert in our operation control room. It is these kinds of things we can do with AI.
When you are dealing with a football game you have three hours to entertain your guests. If you are missing that mark, you are not getting a second chance. So if we can proactively get those hot dogs up to that concession stand, obviously our sales numbers will go up. More importantly, you are not waiting in line 10 minutes for a hot dog only to find out they are out of stock.
What is the charter you have given to NWN with regard to redefining the stadium, fan and employee experience for the AI era?
Well, here’s a little bit of a difference when you talk about Gillette Stadium. We self-operate. The Krafts own this operation. We own the stadium. We own our concessions. We run our own security. It is our staff. We don’t outsource any of this. If you go to a SoFi Stadium or Allegiant, the team may or may not even own the stadium. They are a tenant. Here we self-operate. We own it. We run it. So whatever we are doing to enhance that experience, we are in control of that. This is also a place of business. My office is right here.
Essentially, we control our own destiny. When you go to a SoFi Stadium they have an unbelievable network there, but that network is a utility. You have tenants coming in to use it, whereas here we are driving change that impacts us and our organization as a whole.
How big is the deal in terms of the dollar investment Kraft Group is making here?
It is very large.
Have you ever done a five-year infrastructure deal like this with the network?
We have not on the network side. Basically [NWN Chief Marketing Officer] Andrew [Gilman] has been chasing after me now for three-plus years. The scenario before this is we really didn’t have things lining up in a sequence that would be advantageous for either party.
The interesting piece as to where we are right now is that we have FIFA World Cup coming up in 2026. We have the new proposed soccer stadium [in Everett] that we’re going through the approval process with the state and local authorities.
With these things coming together and the tremendous change coming with IPTV and other network components, including a new Voice-over-IP phone system that NWN is putting in for us as we speak, it became tremendously advantageous for us and NWN to do this deal.
All of a sudden, the stars aligned to the point where we are looking at not just one or two projects but probably eight or nine projects [with NWN] over the next four to five years. That allows us to strategically plan for a series of projects one on top of the other that will all be meshed together.
What has been the evolution of the network for the stadium?
Everything we have has a life cycle associated with it. So several years ago we built out a new production network to support the new East, North and South end zone boards, as well as building an internal production facility. That was a large network project. We have done large firewall migrations over the past five years. We migrated over to Cisco four years ago for the firewalls. But it is evolutionary.
Even though we did a network upgrade three or four years ago, this is a five-year engagement. Everything is on a life cycle. So we are looking at what does the next evolution look like and the one after that. We have a lot of things lining up that opened up the opportunity to do this deal.
How important is the new core-network, collaboration and service infrastructure you are putting in place for the Patriots training facility?
That’s another big endeavor for us. That is going to change the way we engage with the players that are coming in. With [head coach Mike] Vrabel coming in this year, it’s a different philosophy than we have had with past coaches.
The way we are engaging with the football team and the way we are going to be engaging with the players is very different than what has been done in the past. It is a more modern approach to training, to mentoring and all of that. It is going to require more tools, more pieces that weren’t necessarily used before.
There is also the potential of another stadium coming into play and how we are going to manage two stadiums from a central location. With those types of scenarios we need a larger integration partner with a lot of roots and a lot of hands to be able to get these things done.
Who drove the new stand-alone players’ facility?
The planning for that had been in the works for several years’
We did the North end zone project and finished that two years ago.
We have long-term strategic plans within the organization as a whole. Five years ago we built a training facility for the Revolution with new practice fields and everything else.
The Kraft family is always investing in all of their businesses. We built a tremendous manufacturing facility in Boylston, Massachusetts—one of the largest new builds in terms of box manufacturing that opened up in 2024. The Kraft family continually invests in all of their businesses.
Is this an opportunity to take the lead in the AI era versus what the state of the art has been in the NFL?
We control our own destiny. In most NFL teams, the IT groups in those teams are supporting just the team. They don't necessarily have to support a full stadium. They’re not necessarily supporting all the different businesses that we support. So if you go to some of the other teams, their staffs are much smaller. They are not necessarily thinking strategically or thinking about other businesses. They don’t have to. They're just supporting 125 coaches and players. Here my IT team is supporting everything.
Are the different Kraft Group companies on the same network?
They are not necessarily on the same network. They are on extensions of the network. We don’t have it completely flat on purpose. These are separate businesses so we keep things separated from that perspective. But standards are in place. What I am currently running here I am running at Rand Whitney. But there is no reason for me to be connected all the time to Rand Whitney because that could just cause problems.
What does it mean that you are modernizing the Kraft Group technology stack? Will you look at bringing in new vendors?
We look at everybody across the board. That is part of what we are using NWN for—to help us analyze what is the best decision for the pieces of this total project.
I am using right now Extreme for my Wi-Fi. I have Cisco handling my IP traffic for broadcast production. Part of what we are going to do over the coming year is analyze what makes sense as we hit each step in this evolution.
What impressed you most about what NWN could bring to the table?
You’ve known me now for a long time. I come from the channel side and it’s about building relationships. Andrew and I sat down and looked each other in the eye. I said, ‘This is what I’m looking to do. I need you to tell me no bull, straight up. If there are pieces of this that you can’t do, just tell me. As long as we are straight with each other the partnership will grow or I will give you enough runway so that you can build a practice if it makes sense.’
So telling you what is coming in the years to come and where we are going will help NWN to look at getting into that business. At the same time, we can learn from each other. That willingness to sit down and go old school is really important.
The hardest part these days is just sitting down and saying, ‘Hey guys, there may not be business this month but here is what we are doing over the next three years. Let’s sit down and invest in one another.’
What is going to be the economic impact of this deal?
The economic impact is how do we get smarter and how do we drive efficiencies and the guest experience. If the guest experience is better, people are going to stay longer and they are going to buy more. The more modern we become, the more we transform, the more efficient we become.
