Everyone's ready… [pic taken by Erik Malinowski, Sports Editor for Wired.com
For those in the know, today marks the start of the two-day MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston, MA. This is the 5th year of the conference, aimed at studying the convergence of sports, business, and analysis, and we have an operative sitting in their conference rooms right now.
In addition to the usual Malcolm Gladwell stuff, they've arranged plenty of good content. For example:
- Soccer Analytics
This panel will focus on the increasing role that analytics is playing in soccer. In addition to data analysis generated through traditional metrics, this panel will explore on a number of interesting new technologies including: (i) locational analytics being used by a number of major clubs, (ii) new 3D modelling technology that the EPL is currently evaluating, and (iii) the Castrol Index player ratings.
[Panelists include the Head of Business Development from Prozone, the preeminent soccer analysis database, and analysts from Chelsea and Manchester City]
- The Future of the Game Day Experience
In-home viewing technology is on a trajectory to rival or even surpass the experience of live viewing in the stadium. As technology improves, will fans pass up tickets to watch the game on their high definition TVs in the comfort of their homes? How do teams and leagues think about this challenge and make sure the fan experience is more than just watching a game? While sports are “HDTV-proof”, for teams, their focus is on the future of the fan experience in the stadium or arena.
[With Bill Simmons and Mark Cuban!]
- Referee Analytics
Players, coaches, fans, and commentators are never short on opinion when it comes to refereeing. Quality refereeing is a crucial element of a great game or match. This panel will explore the application of analytics to officiating. Discussion topics will include means of evaluating and improving referee performance and sources of bias in refereeing.
[With Simmons, Cuban, NFL Ref Mike Carey and L. Jon Wertheim from Sports Illustrated]
There are keynote speeches and other presentations—find the full agenda here. [PDF Alert]
Why am I telling you this? Well, they’re live-streaming some of the panels here, so if this kind of thing thrills you and compels you, tune in. We’ll have a more thorough report some time next week from our sneaky operatives.
Sports Nerds Unite!
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You rang? Then MLB draft talk looks interesting, especially since I just finished manually going through draft data back to 1973 for my website.
They’re giving the castrol ratings serious consideration now?
About how long does it take you to type a post like this with your mouth?
I’m a heretic, but I skipped the Gladwell talk to sleep in. I think I know what he’s going to say anyway.
Anyway, I’m still trying to figure out what michael wilbon knows about sports analytics.
He talked about basketball and free throws, from what I hear.
@LE
About 22 minutes.
And he wouldn’t stop talking about free throws. It was like he found one interesting question and couldn’t stop asking it. And yes I think Gladwell is a fraud.
I dont think he is a fraud, but he tends to repeat himself a lot. but then again i’ve realized the better (read more famous) writers do repeat themselves a lot.
My focus will be the research track as there are some interest papers being discussed, including one on altitude in soccer matches affecting outcome.
I suggested that Wag and I co-author a paper on the affect of hair product on the final score of a soccer match.
@Andrew: Interesting tmblr i will now subscribe to your newsletter.
A fraud, you say?
Is this open to the public? I might have to leave work early…
According to the Moskowitz talk, Injury time is doubled in La Liga if the home team is behind by a goal. We at uF called this the “Sir Alex” rule in the EPL.
So is the webstream only for the panels in Room 210ABC (the last column on the agenda?), or is there a way to select other panels that I’m not seeing?
no clue PR, but there are cameras in this talk (the research track).
Yeah, looks like they aren’t moving from that room, blows for me because it’s almost all NBA there today. Sadness.
@PR: There was a “Show me your data!” moment though when talking about rates of return on sports franchise moments. That was exciting.
and i’ve decided to sit in the room where all the formulas are being discussed.
@MP – Cool, thanks. I’m glad you like it. If you have any suggestions, let me know. I’m out of ideas at this point.
Crap, not MP, MM. My bad.