The Death of PFF

[ivotuk]

I didn't know it had died. Good info, but too much importance placed on it.

 

[toffee]

PFF website is still up, so the YouTube programs were canceled? Their presenters loved their own voices, talked too much, and did so in an unorganized manner.

 

[MontanaHawk05]

Don't have time to watch a 2-hour podcast, can someone sum it up?

Unless of course it's "people realized our product is crap and stopped giving us money", in which case we all knew that was coming.

 

[ivotuk]

Don't have time to watch a 2-hour podcast, can someone sum it up?

Unless of course it's "people realized our product is crap and stopped giving us money", in which case we all knew that was coming.

That made me hesitant to post it, the length of the video. I'll do a search on PFF later and see if I can find a summary.

 

[arghawkfan]

Original PFF founder put great effort into tracking plays and stats and was serious about putting the time in to generate a decent product, regardless of how we feel about how subjective it is. Chris Collinsworth became a shareholder, Private equity gets involved and the product became more focused on the betting community vs what it was intended for at the onset and the product has become a shell of it’s former self.

 

[Jville]

"DURHAM, N.C. — [MARCH 30, 2026] — Teamworks, the Operating System for Sports™ powering more than 7,000 elite sports organizations globally, today announced the acquisition of Pro Football Focus (PFF)’s enterprise (B2B) business, including its proprietary game event data and analytics platform that NFL teams and collegiate football programs rely on daily.


“This is not just another acquisition. It’s a turning point for how football organizations operate,” said Zach Maurides, CEO and Founder of Teamworks. “Fragmented systems have long frustrated teams and limited their ability to transform raw film and player tracking data into competitive insights. The addition of PFF enables us to deliver a vertically-integrated and AI-powered football platform so teams can make faster, confident decisions in the highest-stakes moments.”


PFF’s enterprise business adds critical data to the foundation of Teamworks’ operating system, trusted by every NFL team and 240+ Division I collegiate programs, and ubiquitous throughout sports media outlets.


“Winning football organizations have to excel both in the front office and on the field,” said Cris Collinsworth, CEO of PFF and now Advisor to Teamworks. “Integrating PFF’s trusted game data with Teamworks’ AI-driven operating system gives football executives a single source for performance, game day strategy, personnel strategy, and long-term planning. That level of alignment across coaches, scouting, and executive leadership is not just exciting, but how championship organizations are built.”


While the PFF acquisition immediately strengthens the pro and college football market, the AI innovation it unlocks extends across elite sports globally. Teamworks serves as a technology partner to the world’s top leagues and teams including 100% of the NFL, NHL and Premier League, 90% of MLB, 87% of the NBA, 83% of MLS, 99% of Division I athletic departments, and 65+ Olympic federations. That reach, paired with proprietary data sets from recent acquisitions of Zelus Analytics, Telemetry Sports, Sportlogiq, and now PFF’s enterprise business, positions Teamworks to deliver unparalleled, sport-specific AI capabilities within a secure and governed platform.


“It’s not enough to simply create the connected infrastructure, the ‘plumbing’, for teams to operate,” said Karim Kassam, Vice President of Teamworks Intelligence and former Head of R&D at the Pittsburgh Steelers. “We need high-quality data and timely, accurate insights flowing through those pipes exactly where and when teams need it. With the addition of PFF, Teamworks delivers the most powerful intelligence platform for American football, and we’re positioned to do the same for other major sports across the globe.”


Through the acquisition, Cris Collinsworth and PFF’s minority investors will continue as Teamworks shareholders, supporting the company’s ongoing football efforts. PFF’s consumer business, not included in this acquisition, will remain independent, continuing to power winning decisions for football fans across fantasy, draft, betting, and player insights. PFF.com continues as the home for the football fan community worldwide.


LionTree Advisors LLC served as financial advisor to Pro Football Focus on the transaction."

Link https://teamworks.com/blog/teamworks-acquires-pff-enterprise/

So a summary of the mission split might read .... the business to business AI operating system is a separate enterprise. Where as the consumer entertainment enterprise addresses a very different audience.

 

[ivotuk]

Every time I see "RIP PFF" on the screen, I read it as "RIP OFF"

 

[MontanaHawk05]

AI-powered.

Nice. I look forward to reading of Ndamukong Witherspoon of the Houston Blue Jays being graded 213.9 for his pass blocking.

 

[toffee]

I always enjoy PFF, their rating system has helped in the evaluation of players and games. They were kind to me, they granted many years of full access for free until this year.

 

[ivotuk]

I always enjoy PFF, their rating system has helped in the evaluation of players and games. They were kind to me, they granted many years of full access for free until this year.

It was always interesting to see how they graded Seahawks. I think it's useful tool for comparison to what one sees, and to other grading systems.

 

[chris98251]

Another site gone, look around and pat each other on the back, we are still here and have better collective insight then anything out there concerning the Seahawks.

 

[RiverDog]

I always enjoy PFF, their rating system has helped in the evaluation of players and games. They were kind to me, they granted many years of full access for free until this year.

I like it, too. Obviously, it's not always accurate as they're trying to quantify stuff that's strictly opinionated. But at the very least, it does give you a heads up. If the next week's opposing center is ranked #1 by PFF in run blocking, it gives you a reason to see how Byron Murphy plays against him.

 

[toffee]

I like it, too. Obviously, it's not always accurate as they're trying to quantify stuff that's strictly opinionated. But at the very least, it does give you a heads up. If the next week's opposing center is ranked #1 by PFF in run blocking, it gives you a reason to see how Byron Murphy plays against him.

I accepted and do not consider PFF as the ultimate authority, but I trust it more than some fans said XXX sucked.

 

[RiverDog]

I accepted and do not consider PFF as the ultimate authority, but I trust it more than some fans said XXX sucked.

Agreed. It's obviously not something you can take to the bank, but it's better than any other rating or ranking system. They do a decent job with an almost impossible task.

 

[toffee]

Agreed. It's obviously not something you can take to the bank, but it's better than any other rating or ranking system. They do a decent job with an almost impossible task.

When I talked to PFF a few years ago, their grading process was totally manual—three analysts watched film together and a senior editor checked it, taking days to post. Now, they drop grades within hours. How? They scaled to over 600 analysts working in live broadcast teams to grade the tape in real time. On top of that, they use AI and AWS machine learning behind the scenes to instantly crunch those numbers and generate automated stats and fantasy insights right as the game ends.