Analytical models in sports have continued to flourish as the importance of Moneyball and its subsequent equational transitions have permeated throughout the sports fan conciousness. Dr. Ben Alamar is in the unique position to both explain analytics growth on the academic level as a former professor as well as on the broadcast side at ESPN, where he helps present digestable coverage for sports viewers worldwide. Alamar presents a very expansive view of where performance estimation is growing, as well as some of the challenges that lie ahead, especially in certification to ensure that all credible research into sports analytics is performed in a peer-review setting. Twitter: @BenAlamar
Understanding the engagement factor with analytics in sports doesn't just come from getting more customer information, but developing better ways to use it. Jeff Schum has been working on various ways to improve the education and relationship of numbers for the Carolina Hurricanes staff for years, as well as with several other organizations. Schum examines methodology to encapsulate as well as create better lead margins for sports sales staff members, qualifying leads to ensure that every piece of measurement can be taken into account before the first phone call is made. This is crucial in a time when discovering the elusive fan is hard to master. Twitter: @JeffSchum
Andrew Goodrich has a knack for creating promotional processes that develop the fan experience further for both the University of Miami and the University of South Florida. A large component of this effort comes from a deep dive into the world of analytical structure, where Goodrich utilizes both digital media and fan information. This is part of the budding trend occurring throughout college athletic departments as administrators are asking: just who are our fans? Goodrich has a few answers, especially for the young university alumni at USF. Twitter: @ATGoodrich
Mike Wendling represents a new challenge to college athletic ticket sales: Analytics as the basis of how his job functions. Originally slated for looking at data support for ticket sales with Oklahoma State, Wendling has broadened his experience to now selling the entire ticket product. Analytics can be challenging for some, but with Wendling, he breaks down the various components of what makes a ticket sales unit, especially at a college athletic department, worth of pushing revenue generation. Twitter: @WendlingMike
The world of sports analytical study is changing by the amount of data compiled from video. At the forefront of this innovation is Vantage Sports, which is able to log and capture multiple video streams, forensically studying various data points throughout a player's entire season, showcasing new research into each movement. Vantage Sports CEO Brett McDonald discusses how the analytical company is able to grasp hold of such information from multiple games, as well as increase the amount of knowledge provided to players, teams and scouts on exactly what they are looking at. Twitter: @VantageSports
Data collection is an imperfect science, especially when the franchise doesn't know what its actually looking for within the information it collects. Repucom's VP Scott Horowitz discusses some of the issues with data and discovering insights within them, breaking apart those silly industry buzzwords to describe analytics, and instead examining exactly what is important when it comes to revenue generation. Horowitz shares his views on why different market segments are important to a sports franchise, even if the standard fan doesn't recognize them, and how each system moves forward to building revenue for the franchise as a whole.
An interview that was original setup to record in North America, was instead recorded in Melbourne, Australia. A.J. Maestas discusses his analytics business model for sports, where fan engagement isn’t just about how much a fan enjoys the in-stadium experience, but also whether they interact with the corporate signage and other sponsorship activities to create activation. All of this comes down to measurements and numbers, and Maestas has quite a few, including some alarming statistics for Major League Baseball with its young audience members. Twitter: @Navigate_Res
Russell Scibetti has helped revolutionize the sports business conversation since 2008 with his blog, TheBusinessOfSports.com, as well as the expansive #SBWEEK that has sought to build a networking capability across the global for those in the business. That's Scibetti's passion, as well as his extensive work in data analytics and CRM with The New York Jets and now as VP of KORE Software. Scibetti shares his thoughts on the data revolution undertaking sports sales departments, as well as striving to gain mass certification of sports management programs in order to ensure that they are creating specific standards for tomorrow's leaders in the industry. Twitter: @RScibetti
On this official Opening Day of Major League Baseball, two members of the Los Angeles Angels’ Front Office come on the podcast to talk indepth on the various components of both scouting and player operations. This is built from the idea of what actually goes into statistics, scouting and overall roster management. Director of Scouting Nathan Horowitz and Director of Player Operations Jonathan Strangio each bring different measurements on how they see the game, as well as how to ensure that each person is working in a cohesive group to bring the best team together on the field.
The world of data analytics is meeting the revenue demands of every franchise, but one of the best steps the Pittsburg Pirates made was installing Jim Alexander from as the team’s Director of Tickets into the analytics role. It is important to showcase that those who know how to generate revenue are also those determining what figures matter and what ancillaries measurements do not. Alexander discusses the various ways in which his role has changed over the years, especially transitioning from Three Rivers Stadium to PNC Park. Alexander covers the topic of fan experience, relating it to customer service, and how, when new PNC Park opened, seats weren’t automatically sold without the customer service aspect being implemented by the team.