Quick Hits from the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference

Big data, machine learning, sports betting, and many, many blue blazers.

After following the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference for years from a distance, it didn’t hit us until we actually went in person how universal and broadly-applicable the content is. The conference is a rolling dialogue on how people interact with the systems they join or create.

Since many attendees and panelists work for globally-known brands (or are globally-known brands themselves), that idea can be obscured a little by the star power on display. But the collective realization that big data, deep learning, and new technologies are rapidly affecting products essentially based on human emotion is very real. A few takeaways:

Sports Betting

Sports betting, and its dependence on data, is the coming storm that everyone is preparing for in different ways. As the dominos of state regulation fall, the possibilities start multiplying for players in the fantasy and gaming space such as William Hill, DraftKings, and the resurgent FanDuel.

Beyond the soon-to-be widespread ability to legally bet on individual games and long-range “prop” bets, there is a huge emphasis on the importance of the mobile and in-game experience, particularly when it comes to the in-game, “live-betting” experience.

Baseball specifically has a lot to gain from live-betting, since the pace of games provides ample opportunity for wagering on a more granular level (i.e. whether runs will be scored in an upcoming inning, or the outcome of a pitcher/batter duel). Fun fact from Saturday’s sports gambling session: about 60% of wagers outside of the U.S. are in-game.

Global Audiences

The NBA is affirming at every level its ascendance as a global sport. One of the unique indicators that got mentioned in more than one session: somewhere around 65% of NBA social media followers are outside of the U.S. The NBA’s Chief Innovation Officer, Amy Brooks, also mentioned that only around 1% of fans will actually attend a game in person.

Growth in all forms … viewership, ad revenue, merchandise, franchise valuation, salary caps, all of it … is dependent on the huge appetite for basketball content in China, Africa, and everywhere else. That content will be delivered increasingly through mobile devices.

Machine Learning

One of the “oh wow” moments came during Ryan Gavin’s (@rbgavin) Machine Learning Renaissance session, showing off all the ways Amazon’s Sagemaker platform is plugging into the NFL, MLB, and Formula 1 racing.

The F1 and baseball examples of how machine learning is used to enhance the viewer experience were vivid … showing real-time, on-screen data visualizations of base-stealing probabilities and driver overtake possibilities. Check out a recent presentation showcasing it at AWS re:Invent 2019.

Wearables

Wearables have crossed the tipping point for pro teams in every major sport. Data collection is now mandatory not only for injury prevention, or elevating performance, or team mechanics, but for enhancing the fan experience in-arena and at home. That growing need for fresh data will make it a huge commodity for almost every media, gaming, and services business connected to sports.

On the consumer side, Boston-based Bose hinted at how it will be ramping up its audio wearable line. Bose Frames will track user data/analytics with the goal of creating audio AR interfaces with the user.

Tiger vs. Federer

There were many highlight interviews, including NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s candid talk with Bill Simmonsand author Michael Lewis’ incredible, star voyage closing sit-down with Washington State football coach Mike Leach.

But Malcolm Gladwell and David Epstein’s “generalists vs. specialists” discussion was expansive, entertaining, and worth a full listen. Of particular note, Gladwell read an audience question about the corporate (and sartorial) influence on young athletes and their parents. Their response starts at about 44:25:

What We Didn’t Hear A Lot About

Analytics visuals have already had a big impact on broadcast entertainment, we but didn’t hear many defined visions for the mobile experience. In general, we think there could be a little more emphasis on the visual design and UX of analytics on mobile.

Developers are sitting on incredibly powerful modeling tools, and there’s still a lot of opportunity to translate that into well-designed consumer products. The Next Gen of Tracking Data panel defined that as the “Holy Grail” of data science: communicating the data (finding a way to bridge the gap of accurately understanding and extrapolating results, while also presenting it in a meaningful and comprehensible way).

Design Solutions

Amidst all the talk of robo-umps and pitch clocks, the Baseball 2.0: Updating America’s Pastime panel brought up an interesting, decidedly un-machine learning way to add some spice to the game: making the bases bigger.

Instead of shortening the length between bases (which, this being baseball, would require some sort of Papal Decree) you make the bases a few inches bigger. Why? Those extra inches could stimulate more action on the field, increase the probability of more doubles and triples, and maybe bring steals back into the game (in a real way). A simple and elegant design solution.

Content and Narrative

Rebooting the Lakers/Celtics Rivalry, with respective owners Jeanie Buss and Wyc Grousbeck, got us thinking about content.

The narrative of the great Laker-Celtic matchups in the 1980s had many elements fueling it: a league desperate for fresh personalities, generational and management tensions on both teams that added drama, two opposing styles of play, two cities separated by history, attitude, and a continent in between. Most of the stars were there for the better part of the decade, adding personal history to the mix.

Players today have a lot more freedom to move around, which is good. But along with that, the narratives in the NBA seem to be more personal, like we’re more willing to follow the arc of an individual’s quest to win no matter the team they’re on. That’s not a bad narrative either, but with all the player movement we wondered if it’s even possible in this era for ANY team rivalries to catch fire and keep going. Especially when a growing global audience has understandably little connection to local markets.