Stanford GSB hosted its inaugural Sports Innovation Conference, where some of the top sports business leaders in the world shared their perspectives.
Vivek Ranadaive, the leader of the Sacramento Kings’ ownership group, asked this question at the Stanford GSB Sports Innovation Conference’s keynote opening in early April. “Fans paint their faces purple. Fans will evangelize.” Every CEO of every business wants to be us — they want to have fans.
While fans’ passion is as old and enduring as sports, today’s leagues and teams are using cutting-edge technologies to build winning teams and leverage their enthusiasm to increase another revenue stream — corporate sponsorships. The April conference revealed several business trends.
Big data will transform basketball management and the game itself.
The Oakland A’s Major League Baseball Team (and the book Moneyball and movie Moneyball ) popularized more than a decade back the idea of using predictive modeling with statistics to build a successful team. San Antonio Spurs and other NBA teams have used similar big data sets to recruit players and implement game plans. The 2013-2014 NBA is the first season that all groups will have SportVU Tracking, which uses six cameras to measure the ball’s movement on the court and the players. This data can be used to create a database of player performance. This is the first time we have too much data to analyze, said Ranadive. He noted that the data generated in this season was more than the previous 67 years of the NBA.
Data is changing the way games are played. The focus has shifted from the number of total points scored by a player to player efficiency, productivity for each touch, and defensive effectiveness. Brian Kopp is the senior vice president at STATS, a company that created SportVU, and he said, “Historically, it has been difficult to quantify defense.” Now, we have four different camera views to help you. The data has also influenced what shots players are taking on the court.
Golden State Warriors forward Andre Iguodala said he uses data to evaluate opponents through scouting reports. However, most players do not pay much attention. He noted some players don’t perform as well if they think too hard. The data has the most significant impact on management when building a team with practical and compatible players.
Sam Hinkie, the general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers and president of basketball operations, has said that analytics alone will not win you a championship. He was an early proponent of basketball big data while he played for the Houston Rockets. He said that success still depends on the judgment of those in charge. Analytics is one tool available to assist these decision-makers. He said that since every team has the same information, finding an analytics technology or technique from another industry and applying it to basketball will give them a competitive edge in the future. The exciting things happen here on Sand Hill Road, the location of Silicon Valley’s venture capitalists, or with DARPA funding or health care analytics. The key is to steal, beg, and borrow from other contexts.
Kopp said that data analysis will also contribute to improved biomechanics for sports, as wearable devices can determine the amount of physical stress players endure. They may even predict injury probabilities so a player is rested before getting hurt. Right now, trainers and coaches are guessing quite a bit.
Brilliant Arenas: The Rise of a New Concept
Franchises are using mobile technology to improve fans’ experience in their homes, stadiums, and venues. Mark Craig of Cisco Systems Sports and Entertainment Group, involved in creating arena Wi-Fi that can function with a large population, says mobile devices are used as “second screens.” Sacramento Kings’ new arena is set to open its doors in 2016. It will feature mobile apps for check-ins, seating upgrades, the shortest lines to bathrooms and concessions, cashless commerce, and wireless seat charging. Ben Gumpert, senior vice president for marketing and strategy at the Kings, revealed that they are looking into using drone technology to survey parking spaces and provide unique camera angles in the arena.
John Abbamondi is the vice president of Team Marketing & Business Operations at the NBA. He said, “Sports are a people business, so we want to find ways to engage people with technology.” You could scan a ticket with your phone when entering the arena. This alerts a representative about your birthday so they can deliver your favorite drink to your seat. He said that each hall was like a laboratory, where new programs were tested to see what worked best to increase engagement and revenue.
Ward Bullard, former head of sports at Google+ and now working for SAP Technology, says that enhanced access for fans to athletes at events is a surprising, underexplored way for them to engage. This may include inviting fans to special pre-game warm-ups or press conferences after the game or standing next to players during the national anthem.
Gumpert stated that such enhancements were possible because the collection and analysis of data on fans could help teams “match what matters to the right fan.”
The code to deeper fan engagement
ESPN executive vice-president John Kosner said that fans want to stay connected with sports teams and their content anywhere, anytime. He noted that 43% exclusively of ESPN.com’s audience accessed the site through mobile devices in the month prior.
Bullard said that video is a critical component of access. He noted that leagues like MLB and NBA, which are savvy, have partnered with YouTube early on to provide highlight compilations of games and recaps to fans.
The Kings’ Ranadive said he views the organization as “much more than a team of sports; it’s a network of social networks.” These include the development of Google+ Hangouts, which allows fans to engage with the team on their second screen, and a “virtual t-shirt toss,” where registered fans are randomly selected to win a shirt through the app.
Social media is a vital part of all leagues. NASCAR has developed a “digital dashboard” that includes onboard telemetry and social media interaction in races between drivers and fans.
