by Eric Marturano
For the past 7 years, I've been attending the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. I started going back in 2014, when I was a senior at Boston College (and called color & play-by-play for the football and men’s basketball teams on WZBC student radio). Since then, I haven’t stopped going – and for good reason. The MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference is not only a super-fun event but an annual excuse for me to visit some friends who have been stranded in the terrible town of Boston.
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| SSAC 2021 is...uh...a little different this year |
At least, it used to be a good excuse for a trip to Boston. This year - 2021 - is a bit different.
Back in 2020, I was working in sports for the first time as an attendee at Sloan. In doing so, I got to enjoy the conference in a new way than in prior years, while also visiting my great friends Joe, Alyson, Jon, and Sarah. The pandemic wave was *just* about to crest back on March 5-8, 2020 during my visit. Little did I know that it would become a tidal wave. After a crazy 2020, like a lot of folks, I no longer work in sports and don't exactly plan to return for some time. However, I still love this conference and am thrilled to be attending its virtual iteration this year. At minimum, I had to keep my attendance streak alive to support conference co-founder Daryl Morey, who now is President of Basketball Operations for my favorite team, the Philadelphia 76ers. Surreal stuff for me!!
Before I dive into my personal itinerary for the duration of the conference, I want to mention that many of the higher profile panels & sessions can (hopefully) be found on video here in the next few days. The agendas for each day can be found here. As an attendee, I very much appreciate that the conference records many of the sessions since occasionally there will be conflicting panels of interest.
This year I gravitated to the bigger, more online produced panels, so missed on most paper presentations. If you're curious though, here were my 3 favorite papers this year:
- Predicting NBA Talent from Enormous Amounts of College Basketball Tracking Data
- Using Mobile Location Data to Assess Sponsorship Effectiveness
- Increasing the shot at a quality draft-decision - A Bayesian approach to improve predicting three-point accuracy translation in the NBA Draft
Without further ado, here's my running journal of things I watched, learned, and enjoyed at the 2021 SSAC.
Thursday April 8, 2021
I woke up, brought my son Marco to daycare, and returned home for some breakfast. Around 9:30am I logged on for Opening Remarks - entertaining as always - from conference co-leads Jessica Gelman (KAGR) and Daryl Morey (76ers!!). They covered some of the ups and downs from this weird year - in life and in sports - and set the stage for the rest of the day.
10:00am-10:45am The New Sports Fan: Innovation and Data
Speaker(s): Jessica Gelman, Alison Overholt, Marie Donoghue, Valerie Camillo
Description: In 2021, precedent is not a predictor of who fans are or what they want. Learn how leading executives from the most forward thinking organizations in sports (Amazon, Comcast and KAGR) are using data to understand how to attract new fans, create new experiences, and take advantage of lessons learned during the pandemic. In the past year, the in-person and viewing experience has been forced to accelerate 5 years. Teams, leagues, and media companies are innovating to cater to the next generation while continuing to attract their longstanding supporters. At Amazon, Marie Donoghue has accelerated product innovation for viewers and creatively built rights deals with the EPL, NFL, teams, and more. A savvy and impactful team president of the Flyers, Valerie Camillo is resetting how teams in the NHL approach fans and use data. And, KAGR is the technology and strategic backbone helping industry leaders like the NFL and HBSE understand their fans, create new data, and define changing fan dynamics.
Description: In 2021, precedent is not a predictor of who fans are or what they want. Learn how leading executives from the most forward thinking organizations in sports (Amazon, Comcast and KAGR) are using data to understand how to attract new fans, create new experiences, and take advantage of lessons learned during the pandemic. In the past year, the in-person and viewing experience has been forced to accelerate 5 years. Teams, leagues, and media companies are innovating to cater to the next generation while continuing to attract their longstanding supporters. At Amazon, Marie Donoghue has accelerated product innovation for viewers and creatively built rights deals with the EPL, NFL, teams, and more. A savvy and impactful team president of the Flyers, Valerie Camillo is resetting how teams in the NHL approach fans and use data. And, KAGR is the technology and strategic backbone helping industry leaders like the NFL and HBSE understand their fans, create new data, and define changing fan dynamics.
Reaction: This was a pretty relevant panel for me, as my former role in the sports industry was primarily measuring fan engagement through qualitative and quantitative market research studies. Fan engagement changed drastically in 2020-21 due to the pandemic and its up to total speculation what will "stay" post-pandemic. According to Jessica Gelman (KAGR), there were "a lot of new fans" created during the pandemic - younger, more active, wanting to go out and the main challenge for teams was serving them in tandem with their "older/traditional" fans...and then of course trying to figure out what the post-pandemic world actually looks like.
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| I've been to a couple Sixers games myself under new COVID protocol |
- Jessica - "For teams that have had 15+ games, there is pent up demand early but then after 15 games, there is less ticket sell-through. The impact is focus/marketing to the new fans and getting older fans more comfortable." Also: "The ability to tie an NFT to a ticket, to an experience, at a game, with exclusivity and tracking will be a unique opportunity for fans and teams alike."
- Marie - "Some of the changes will be permanent. Accelerated cord-cutting. We always say it's 'Day 1' so are looking for new trends all the time. Broadcasting, advertising, and experience are ripe for innovation."
- Valerie - "Short term: we're in a period of transition with some guests who are comfortable returning and others who want to wait for the 'normal' experience. Long term: there will probably be a golden age of people wanting to get back out once things are completely 'normal' again. Our concert business is on an even more delayed lag."
11:00am-11:45am A Conversation with Andrew Yang and Nate Silver
Speaker(s): Andrew Yang, Nate Silver
Description: New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang likes MATH. So does Nate Silver. In this special one-on-on conversation, hear from Yang as he reflects on life since his 2020 presidential campaign, the role of data in reaching voters, and what it was like to be a Knicks fan in the Jeremy Lin era.
Description: New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang likes MATH. So does Nate Silver. In this special one-on-on conversation, hear from Yang as he reflects on life since his 2020 presidential campaign, the role of data in reaching voters, and what it was like to be a Knicks fan in the Jeremy Lin era.
Reaction: Nate Silver has been a staple at Sloan for years - for better and worse. I think he's at his best when he in his wheelhouse of politics vs., say, pretending to be good at poker with my pal Scott. This interview with Andrew Yang - former presidential candidate, now running for mayor of NYC - was worthwhile.
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| Andrew Yang campaigns in NYC for mayor |
Yang believes another pandemic will come - not sure when - but is hopeful that this mess of the last year will help the US be more prepared for the future. Andrew Yang's prognosis is grim in terms of NYC's current state of short-term affairs: NYC is missing 88% of commuters and 90% of tourists, which has decimated city revenue. Regarding new tax policies to navigate the work-from-home world that is taking former city workers to the suburbs, Yang seems more interested in commuter incentives vs. commuter taxes to encourage "getting back to normal" in person vs. continuing the "new normal" remotely. In this way, he views NYC's person-to-person proximity as a value-proposition for creativity and business innovation, not a detriment for society. Interesting!
Regarding Yang's sports interests, he finds himself a disenchanted Knicks fan. He finds some positives with James Dolan as an owner, as long as he is doing something good for NYC (he's not). He'd like MSG to pay more property tax at a minimum. Yang is also a proponent of rank-choice voting ("just put me 2nd!") and would like to see the voting age lowered to 16 to increase political engagement throughout a lifetime.
In true Yang fashion, he presented lots of radical ideas, but who knows what will stick, or if he'll be able to win an election. Overall, Yang claims to be open to ideas to make people's lives better and while a politician at the end of the day, projects (at least a feigned) thoughtfulness that has been sorely lacking in the American landscape for years. Yang believes there is a huge overlap in SSAC attendees in terms of being data-driven and looking to optimize things and his campaign. I personally see some overlap...and I see some opportunistic political framing too. I'm also not an NYC voter. If you are - good luck!
12:00pm-12:45pm Quantify This: Valuing Sports Sponsorships
Speaker(s): Kate Frederick, Renie Anderson, Catherine Carlson, Brendan Lynch, Elizabeth Lindsey
Description: As COVID forced game play to a screeching halt requiring innovation to deliver sports to fans virtually, the traditional sports sponsorship model had to be re-invented too. Learn how the leading sports properties adjusted, created new value as their assets disappeared, managed long-term partnerships, and identified new assets and data to maximize impact. As we continue our return to fans in-venues, learn how sports sponsorship has changed forever and as importantly, what historical assets are more valuable than before. The leading executives from the NFL, Wasserman, Bose, and Ticketmaster will discuss the increasing role of analytics, ROI, and sponsors who became partners in surviving the pandemic together.
Description: As COVID forced game play to a screeching halt requiring innovation to deliver sports to fans virtually, the traditional sports sponsorship model had to be re-invented too. Learn how the leading sports properties adjusted, created new value as their assets disappeared, managed long-term partnerships, and identified new assets and data to maximize impact. As we continue our return to fans in-venues, learn how sports sponsorship has changed forever and as importantly, what historical assets are more valuable than before. The leading executives from the NFL, Wasserman, Bose, and Ticketmaster will discuss the increasing role of analytics, ROI, and sponsors who became partners in surviving the pandemic together.
Reaction: Sponsorships and partnerships are the life-blood of sports revenue. My former role had me measuring and tracking sponsorships for 10+ teams in the NBA, events like the US Open, and plenty other properties. Sponsors want to know if they're getting the awareness/engagement bang for their buck and teams want to know if the sponsors fit, are getting value, and how they can improve their efforts to get results - and therefore more lucrative deals from their current/prospective sponsors. In this way, what would seem like competitive entities (teams/sponsors) at the bargaining table are really partners - they want their fans to be seeing/using the product, as it results in a win/win. In the time of COVID, these strategies changed radically.
Goals of organizations changed, and therefore strategies changed too. Catherine Carlson of the Philadelphia Eagles brought some interesting local context for things I passively observed in the last year: For example, Budweiser usually has activations (the marketing term for interactive advertisements) around stadium/local bars/gameday. Teams pivoted in COVID to home delivery strategies for Budweiser to meet a world without fan attendance. Brand messaging for sponsor hospitals went from signage around a stadium to deals with providing PPE equipment or vaccine research - Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie among the many owners who sought this type of goodwill co-branding for team sponsors. Seat covers that existed for safety offered a new opportunity for branding. Communication of protocols (such as "Know Before You Go") became common. 94% of fans said they felt safe attending an Eagles game and many even liked the added benefits of less fans (such as less traffic). Transforming the stadium to cashless from a former 60% cash transaction gameday was a band-aid rip vs. a phased concept, due to safety demands. And of course, online/live gambling engagement offers unprecedented growth. We'll see what sticks!
1:00pm-1:45pm Super Glue: Investigating Basketball Culture vs. Analytics
Speaker(s): Zach Lowe, Adrian Wojnarowski, Shane Battier, David Fizdale
Description: Analytics have revolutionized sports to identify new strategies and help evaluate players, but what about intangibles? How do we evaluate the ‘glue’ players that play a pivotal role in the locker room, but whose names are not necessarily atop the stat sheet, or the hustle that does not get marked down but leads to a steal breakaway? This panel examines how teams try to put numbers on these vital moments for teams. Hear from coaches, players, and the journalists who report out on the ‘culture codes’ of teams as they discuss the analytics behind culture and the potential to measure these ‘glue’ players.
Description: Analytics have revolutionized sports to identify new strategies and help evaluate players, but what about intangibles? How do we evaluate the ‘glue’ players that play a pivotal role in the locker room, but whose names are not necessarily atop the stat sheet, or the hustle that does not get marked down but leads to a steal breakaway? This panel examines how teams try to put numbers on these vital moments for teams. Hear from coaches, players, and the journalists who report out on the ‘culture codes’ of teams as they discuss the analytics behind culture and the potential to measure these ‘glue’ players.
Reaction: It's time again for the eye-test vs. analytics panel!! A staple in giving me headaches and yet somehow being one of my favorite panels every year. Talks of glue guys dominated early - Chuck Hayes, Jae Crowder - players that make it all "work". But how should they be valued? Is Mikal Bridges worth $20M/yr vs. Glue Guy B? How do front offices make the decision of transitioning a feel-good cheap glue-guy to substantial expense in a salary cap league? Shane Battier thinks the "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", as some of the same strength/weaknesses will have different values in different locations.
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| Shane Battier offers sage advice - take a behavioral economics course! |
Shane Battier can specifically speak to Miami's focus on "culture" and "intangibles" as the VP of the Heat's Development and Analytics: "The main thing is the main thing is the famous Pat Riley saying. Can they live that life and fit into our culture aspects. The race is on to quantify these things." A bit later he said maybe my favorite quote to come out of this conference: "Hey - take a behavioral economics course." It's small, but he went on to finally move the conversation forward of how to marry qualitative assessment with quantitative observation. This has been a sticking point for me for a long time as a qual/quant researcher.
An interesting question posed by Zach Lowe: "How do you know [as a glue guy] when you've earned the trust of the best players on the team?" Fizdale says, "the stars tell you who to put on the floor." "The people who do their jobs the best the most consistently", was Shane's answer. One question I liked: What percentage of glue guys is on the court vs. off the court impact? Udonis Haslem is a great example, according to Battier, as someone who holds guys accountable and helps guide younger players with "positive EV plays off-the-court." Telling someone to get back on defense, showing up on time - these contribute to winning. Hard to put a percentage on it but its positive. Juwan Howard was mentioned as well.
Making winning plays is clearly both an art and a science. Study up!
1:45pm-2:15pm Fan Engagement in the time of COVID
Speaker(s): Tom Duncan
Description: The ongoing global pandemic has brought the sports and live entertainment industry to a grinding halt. The Sacramento Kings have leveraged data and technology to maintain a relationship with their passionate fanbase and drive revenue through enhancing existing initiatives and creating new programs not imagined 12 months ago.
Description: The ongoing global pandemic has brought the sports and live entertainment industry to a grinding halt. The Sacramento Kings have leveraged data and technology to maintain a relationship with their passionate fanbase and drive revenue through enhancing existing initiatives and creating new programs not imagined 12 months ago.
Reaction: Tom Duncan of the Sacramento Kings explained some recent innovations in fan engagement for the Sacramento Kings. Beginning with outdoor dining, DOCO Al Fresco became a restaurant experience that allowed patrons to order food and drink items from multiple adjacent restaurants, on a single-tab (weirdly, my wife Erin's current favorite show 'Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist' involves a similar concept in its plotline??). Anyway, this presented a challenge of deciding of who to target with unique messaging in marketing. Tom's team's eventual solution was to leverage their data base with KAGR, aggregating customer data into a "golden record" for how particular customers do business with the Kings. Using these "golden records", the Kings were able to have improved email outreach to different fan segments for both DOCO Al Fresco and live entertainment, letting engagement to help inform targeting for future email efforts. I was curious about the Golden Record, so I asked:
Q (me): Hi Tom - what sort of data gets rolled into a "golden record"? Sounds like KAGR has plenty of observed data. Do you ever roll in survey data, say from a TMBO fan survey, into these "Golden Records"? If so, what relative weight to give observed vs. self-report data (in general)?
A (Tom): Eric - We're still in the process of incorporating data sources, but currently we have a hierarchy that defines which sources to pull from (i.e. we trust a field from a ticketing record more than a form submission). In the absence of ticketing data, usually that is some sort of form submission or sweepstakes entry.
Q (me): Hi Tom - what sort of data gets rolled into a "golden record"? Sounds like KAGR has plenty of observed data. Do you ever roll in survey data, say from a TMBO fan survey, into these "Golden Records"? If so, what relative weight to give observed vs. self-report data (in general)?
A (Tom): Eric - We're still in the process of incorporating data sources, but currently we have a hierarchy that defines which sources to pull from (i.e. we trust a field from a ticketing record more than a form submission). In the absence of ticketing data, usually that is some sort of form submission or sweepstakes entry.
The pandemic also led to rethinking sales campaigns for ticket sales. Lack of new single game ticket buyers shifted focus to more efficient targeting. KAGR helped facilitate in a few ways - primarily through cleaning CRM data to give the business intelligence team more time to think about strategy. New data sources/models are able to thus be built and early results for 2021-22 season are encouraging. As has been the recurring theme this year - COVID has sparked a lot of new strategies!
3:00pm-3:45pm Backdoor Cover: Revolutionizing Sports During COVID
Speaker(s): Chad Millman, Jason Robins, Erika Nardini, Scott O'Neil
Description: Sports betting organizations have changed the way fans experience games from opening dedicated lounges in-stadiums to including fantasy stats on ticker tapes. Leagues and front offices have capitalized on this wealth of fan behavior to see what peaks fans’ interests and to discuss potential rule changes. Looking forward, what's the next big thing for the sports betting industry, and how will businesses adapt in order to meet their customer's needs? Tune in to hear Erika Nardini, Scott O’Neil, and Jason Robins wager on what’s ahead.
Description: Sports betting organizations have changed the way fans experience games from opening dedicated lounges in-stadiums to including fantasy stats on ticker tapes. Leagues and front offices have capitalized on this wealth of fan behavior to see what peaks fans’ interests and to discuss potential rule changes. Looking forward, what's the next big thing for the sports betting industry, and how will businesses adapt in order to meet their customer's needs? Tune in to hear Erika Nardini, Scott O’Neil, and Jason Robins wager on what’s ahead.
Reaction: Gambling has been a recurring theme at Sloan this year, so I was excited for this panel. It also featured Sixers CEO Scott O'Neil, who was definitely where his feet were for this one. However, the pandemic took over the early conversation. Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini led off, saying that they approached the pandemic by enabling their creative assets to "go for it" with anything that could keep content moving forward. She saw their low-fi DIY video content as an advantage as the world shifted "home".
Scott O'Neil followed, saying he approached the pandemic last year - after flying home to a Sixers games (which I was at by the way!) - by conferring with Sixers Coach Brett Brown, GM Elton Brand, and President Chris Heck about how to message about the NBA's imminent COVID shutdown. Scott says he was pretty terrified about remote working transitions - initially thought to be a 2-3 week period, now on over year. He said "the average age of my employees is 26-27, so a young group" and really wanted to take care of the mental health aspect of management in the transition as well. Admirable, to say the least. Scott also believes that "the mental health implications of this pandemic" is something "we've barely scratched the surface on", and mentioned the importance of helping others in times of crisis, something that resonated with him while reading "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl.
Jason Robins, CEO of DraftKings, took his leading gambling company public during the pandemic. The challenges were similar to what Scott mentioned - everyone is freaking out, wondering what is going to happen with both the world and the business/family care aspects. Once stabilization occurred however, the focus shifted to finishing the deal of taking DraftKings public. This goal provided a good rallying point for DraftKings, in Jason's opinion, in a time of general uncertainty.
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| Scott O'Neil asks: "Why does the party have to go home?" |
Erika found Penn National's investment in Barstool to be compelling for their fanbase, as "stoolies" could actually buy a share in Barstool and own the thing they love. On the sportsbook side of things, there is obviously a ton of growth to be had. She views it as "the perfect second screen experience" for fans. Scott found sports betting more relevant in PA (Sixers) and NJ (Devils) as well, but in his business early on in the pandemic "the house was on fire". He does believe, though, that we are headed for the "roaring 20s" in terms of fan experience and thinks there to be "an unlimited opportunities to use arenas", particularly post game - "why does the party have to go home?", he asked.
On the topic of Scott's roaring 20's growth mentality in looking for the future, Erika sees Barstool as fast-growing too, with 40% of their new audience coming from TikTok and this summer to be ripe for a "Saturdays" themed marketing campaign. Barstool is looking to earn more of the customer wallet in all of their offerings - merchandise, events, content, etc. Scott, meanwhile, has been with HBSE for eight years and has grown the company that controls both the Sixers and Devils 5x. He is looking to keep growing. For HBSE, there is an interest in looking for more real-estate, but Scott couldn't say much. He did, however, end with some humor: "I'm typically 6 months ahead of where the world is, so I'm ready to go." Confident!
4:00pm-4:45pm Show Not Tell: Sports Storytelling
Speaker(s): Adam McKay, Michael Lewis
Description: People have been telling stories about the lives of athletes for centuries. More recently, it seems that athletes have taken a more active role in telling their own stories. In this panel, we bring together director/producer Adam McKay (Anchorman, Talladega Nights) and author Michael Lewis (The Big Short, Moneyball) to discuss this changing industry paradigm. Together, McKay and Lewis will discuss a variety of topics from how they bring athlete stories to life, both in parody and through documentary, to how sports media was the precursor to political media. How do they know when to insert artistic license, as opposed to letting the athlete or the story shine?
Reaction: Two pretty brilliant storytellers headed up my final panel of the day. Adam McKay, comedian extraordinaire, isn't much of an athlete in his opinion but loves to play pickup basketball still, despite "not being able to jump over a pizza delivery menu". Michael Lewis regaled the audience with tales of his British college basketball career. That's the kind of conversation this was - one of memories and how they inform our storytelling. The proverbial "highlight reel in my head".McKay spoke about 5 fundamental human activities - sex, eat, play, religion, and raise a family - as what drives all of our behaviors. Play is a big one for McKay, since it connects much of human activities. There were some salient points, like that, and also about a zillion jokes. Honestly, this whole conversation was a riot and me writing about it barely does it justice. I hope there's a video so you can listen in. A few example of highlights from McKay: - "There's not a good WW2 sports movie - the outside forces are too big. For example, 'Victory'...I mean who cares?? They end up escaping after a game-winning goal...why didn't you just escape after the first two minutes?!" (Lewis loses it laughing)
- "American culture is bent in this bizarre way towards entertainment and escape...almost immediately we were like 'can you play basketball in a hazmat suit?'. I was interesting in the answer! That's how American I am!" (Lewis loses it laughing)
- "I wrote the script, a TV movie, about the Boston Celtics. So, you know, I made Greg Kite an all NBA player." (Lewis loses it laughing)
McKay and Lewis laugh it up!
Really, all I needed to know was that Adam McKay frequented my favorite bar in Philadelphia, Dirty Frank's. Forget his great movies and shows - that's the true measure of someone's humor. Good to end the first day of the conference with a laugh!
Description: People have been telling stories about the lives of athletes for centuries. More recently, it seems that athletes have taken a more active role in telling their own stories. In this panel, we bring together director/producer Adam McKay (Anchorman, Talladega Nights) and author Michael Lewis (The Big Short, Moneyball) to discuss this changing industry paradigm. Together, McKay and Lewis will discuss a variety of topics from how they bring athlete stories to life, both in parody and through documentary, to how sports media was the precursor to political media. How do they know when to insert artistic license, as opposed to letting the athlete or the story shine?
- "There's not a good WW2 sports movie - the outside forces are too big. For example, 'Victory'...I mean who cares?? They end up escaping after a game-winning goal...why didn't you just escape after the first two minutes?!" (Lewis loses it laughing)
- "American culture is bent in this bizarre way towards entertainment and escape...almost immediately we were like 'can you play basketball in a hazmat suit?'. I was interesting in the answer! That's how American I am!" (Lewis loses it laughing)
- "I wrote the script, a TV movie, about the Boston Celtics. So, you know, I made Greg Kite an all NBA player." (Lewis loses it laughing)
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| McKay and Lewis laugh it up! |
Really, all I needed to know was that Adam McKay frequented my favorite bar in Philadelphia, Dirty Frank's. Forget his great movies and shows - that's the true measure of someone's humor. Good to end the first day of the conference with a laugh!
Friday April 9, 2021
10:00am-10:45am Making a QB1: The Science behind QB Evaluations
Speaker(s): Kevin Meers, Jordan Palmer, Field Yates
Description: In 2020, we witnessed the emergence of unexpected NFL quarterback stars alongside a carousel of moves. Listen in for an in-depth, end-to-end analysis on what it means to be a quarterback and what the role entails. Our panel of football experts will look at how analytics can be used to evaluate, scout, and improve quarterbacks, as well as make the ever-important decision of whether to tag or move on from a player.
Reaction: My second day began with a discussion about football. The goal of this conversation was to figure out exactly what makes a good quarterback. What are the components for success and how are they evaluated? Jordan Palmer, a former player turned personal coach, offered some great insights regarding confidence. He spoke of the difference between self-generated confidence (good) and reactionary confidence (bad), and how self-generated confidence is essentially the barrier-to-entry for successful starting QBs. If you don't have that, you may as well quit.Kevin Meers focused on accuracy - sounds simple enough, but sometimes becomes an overlooked trait in favor of things like arm strength, charisma, etc. Jordan agreed - accuracy is hard to teach and key to evaluate. He believes "vision" to be the biggest piece of accuracy, as in actual 20/20 vision and seeing how it holds up at certain distances.
Decision-making, of course, factors in as well, particularly in the last few minutes of halves and games. Jordan wants to build more conversation around decision-making assessment in those situations, as they end up being the pivotal game or season-ending plays. However, since "the same play can be called 5 different ways", its difficult to really assess decision-making beyond being in the actual QB room for any given team.
Jordan, Kevin, and Field discuss what makes
a successful QB
Jordan also believes there are two nearly opposite evaluations each year - team evaluations and media/outsider evaluations. And what matters most are team evaluations, because they understand fit and can make or break success for a player in how they choose to fit. He uses Patrick Mahomes as an example - Patrick went to the perfect spot, in Jordan's opinion, where Andy Reid decided to not change Mahomes somewhat unorthodox style. Credit to Andy Reid for having humility and foresight with a young talent like Mahomes where a lot of veteran coaches would not.Something that may be commonly missed in a COVID world - "some of these guys are soft", Jordan says. And its much harder to catch exactly how soft on Zoom or virtual meetings as opposed to multiple meals and meetings in person ahead of a draft. He's not sure how to test for this, but is certain resolve/character won't show up on Zoom or Instagram. I tend to agree.Looking forward, the biggest need appears to be for each QB room to find a way to consistently evaluate decision-making on what "should" have been done in an objective way, per the values and views of that room. That way, there can be a somewhat automated decision-grading system for each QB in a way that makes sense for the team. A tall order, to say the least...but I suspect plenty of teams have their secret sauce already and keep the recipe for success hidden enough that folks like me - or even QB coaches like Jordan - would never hear of it. Maybe one day we will.
Description: In 2020, we witnessed the emergence of unexpected NFL quarterback stars alongside a carousel of moves. Listen in for an in-depth, end-to-end analysis on what it means to be a quarterback and what the role entails. Our panel of football experts will look at how analytics can be used to evaluate, scout, and improve quarterbacks, as well as make the ever-important decision of whether to tag or move on from a player.
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| Jordan, Kevin, and Field discuss what makes a successful QB |
11:00am-11:45am Big Data Energy: How Marketing Technology and Analytics are Changing Sports
Speaker(s): Shelley Pisarra, Paul Caine, Kate Jhaveri, Abe Madkour, Jenny Storms
Description: The omni-channel experience has provided sports, media and entertainment organizations with a world of data at their disposal - but what tools do they need to harness understanding of their customers? Leagues, media and sports organizations quickly adjusted their approach & doubled down on technology to innovate and adapt to improve their marketing. The panel brings together marketing & business innovators from the NBA, NBC, Wasserman, and Endeavor to discuss how they leverage big data to make decisions, continue to change their traditional marketing strategies, and what lessons they can take from this past year.
Reaction: Unfortunately, this one got off to a slow start due to tech issues and I took the risk to stick around to see if they would resolve vs. jumping to another panel. I'll use this time as I wait for the panel to *hopefully* get back online to talk about evolving business etiquette tech issues in general this past year, since the SSAC side chat of attendees, moderators, and students putting on the event during this tech failure displayed a hodgepodge of attitudes.It's pretty wild to me how much we can do virtually and how much we're still limited by that environment if like 1 thing goes wrong, especially in this time of COVID. From a business standpoint, for example, I just completed 40 qualitative interviews in 2 European countries using a series of virtual meeting/conference platforms. Inevitably, there were tech issues from time to time, with real audiences on the line wondering what was going on. I've found that when a paid service fails due to tech problems, its important to express encouragement/empathy in the moment to those who are trying to resolve them, rather than typing in something angry or unproductive. It was encouraging to see other SSAC virtual attendees adopt a similar approach as this panel struggled to get back online. Even folks who work hard will inevitably be failed by their platforms every now and then, so exacerbating a problem via chat messages is often counterproductive - its important to remember that these people aren't robots and they're your only lifeline to salvage something in the moment. There is plenty of time after a project or a service to haggle over who owes what...but in the moment, its in everyone's best interest to keep communication short, polite, and informative. That's my 2 cents, anyway. Fortunately, this panel was able to get back online, so I'll do my best to learn something in its final 15 minutes. I'm told the full panel can be found online later, so if I'm able, I'll update this post with the link.Jumping into this conversation of Fan Experience, there is much discussion on how better understanding virtual engagement has been key this past year. There is curiosity for seeing which virtual engagement strategies can be maintained or further leveraged as in-person events begin to return. As fans have become more digitally focused, there has been a "craving for community", which was temporarily fulfilled online and has an opportunity to be a compelling add-on to a live event. Three goals will help guide this melding of recently enhanced digital experiences with a traditional in-arena experiences: 1) more communal experiences, whether in person or online, 2) more access, so fans can see/hear everything, and 3) customization/personalization, so that the statheads can get the stats and the fashion fans can get the fashion, etc. New products, if they haven't launched already, are coming. Finding the tipping points for each of these "more" goals - community, access, customization - will be important to how those products are designed, such that they can be scaled efficiently.Metrics like affinity - "how much you love the game" - as a measure of fandom, are no longer the only data points that matter. Fan segments are dynamic and are more blurred beyond terms like "core" or "casual" in terms of actual behavior. So, its important to remember there are real people behind these data points when analyzing data, and think through observed behavior and self-reported perception when trying to decide how to market to them. As a professional market researcher, I couldn't agree more!
Description: The omni-channel experience has provided sports, media and entertainment organizations with a world of data at their disposal - but what tools do they need to harness understanding of their customers? Leagues, media and sports organizations quickly adjusted their approach & doubled down on technology to innovate and adapt to improve their marketing. The panel brings together marketing & business innovators from the NBA, NBC, Wasserman, and Endeavor to discuss how they leverage big data to make decisions, continue to change their traditional marketing strategies, and what lessons they can take from this past year.
12:00pm-12:45pm A Conversation with Mark Cuban and Andy Slavitt
Speaker(s): Mark Cuban, Andy Slavitt, Nate Silver
Description: Of all the aspects of everyday life that data has transformed, perhaps nowhere was the impact more deeply felt than in healthcare. As friends and two leading public voices, Andy Slavitt and Mark Cuban will discuss healthcare and the role data has had, and will continue to have, in improving care and society at large. While data has revolutionized health for everyone, Andy and Mark will narrow in what data has taught us about the health of athletes, who come from diverse backgrounds, experience higher physical and mental health risks, and are exposed to inconsistent healthcare experiences.
Reaction: As someone who works in healthcare research and is interested in sports, I was pretty excited for this panel. Nate Silver led off by mentioning that he associates the Sloan conference with COVID - I do too, unfortunately - just due to its timing in 2020 as one of the last live events pre-pandemic. Mark Cuban continued, specifically to recount that fateful March 11, 2020 when the NBA - and most of America - came to a grinding COVID halt. He saw a sold-out crowd so thought there wouldn't be much issue...and then the season was suspended to his virally famous chagrin.
Cuban in viral disbelief, March 11, 2020
Andy Slavitt coincidentally was at a basketball game too that day - his son's. A few weeks earlier, he received some analysis that it was already "too late" to avoid a day like March 11. With the benefit of hindsight, Andy believes (like many other Americans) that a more aggressive testing plan and more coordinated re-opening plan would have helped. "There are just plain mistakes made in the heat of battle...the public's inexperience with pandemics in the US really showed as compared to other parts of the world with more experience," he observed. Mark Cuban believes the fundamental underpinning to everything that went wrong was the question "Who do we trust with our lives?" and, since trust was fractured, everyone looked inward and was unable to coordinate effectively. Andy had an interesting quote on this topic too: "It's easier to do something than do nothing. And we asked Americans to do nothing."As vaccinations get distributed, its important to understand that things can't fully open until enough of the public is vaccinated - even if *you* individually are safe/vaccinated. It's not clear when herd immunity will be reached so it's important to know why, say, a restaurant has to be at 50% capacity even though your whole party of 4 may be vaccinated.Regarding vaccine passports, Cuban believes its an awful idea and will agitate the public, arming those not interested in vaccines with yet another reason to avoid vaccination. I tend to agree, and that's before even unpacking how something like that would affect public views on liberty or inequality. Meanwhile, Andy Slavitt observes that there are so many people where convenience is the driving factor, meaning ubiquity is the only way to catch these people who are open to being vaccinated but not motivated to go out of their way to make it happen. He floated the idea of bars doing "shots for a shot". I can get behind that!Cuban mentioned some learnings for sports: being out of season and overlapping is a net loss for all leagues, fans change their viewing habits in the forced choice. This reminded me of his famous "pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered" quote from a few years ago regarding the NFL expanding to Thursday nights and beyond. Clearly, Cuban is mindful of the competitive sports landscape (to say the least).On a more serious note, Slavitt mentioned: "The tough part is to message to people that we're so close, but not there yet. Because people really want to be there!" If people go back to normal activity, that the spread and variant level will increase in a way that will cause cases and hospitalization going up. We're getting there for sure...and I personally hope and pray that our country has the patience to finish this thing right.
Description: Of all the aspects of everyday life that data has transformed, perhaps nowhere was the impact more deeply felt than in healthcare. As friends and two leading public voices, Andy Slavitt and Mark Cuban will discuss healthcare and the role data has had, and will continue to have, in improving care and society at large. While data has revolutionized health for everyone, Andy and Mark will narrow in what data has taught us about the health of athletes, who come from diverse backgrounds, experience higher physical and mental health risks, and are exposed to inconsistent healthcare experiences.
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| Cuban in viral disbelief, March 11, 2020 |
1:00pm-1:45pm Need Fantastic Trophies
Speaker(s): Mark Cuban, Daryl Morey, Leore Avidar, Roham Gharegozlou, Nicolas Julia
Description: Over two weeks in February, the value of a pristine condition Michael Jordan rookie card went from $215,000 to $738,000. The value of sports memorabilia - ranging from cards, to sneakers, to even digital highlights - has reached an all time high despite a pandemic and recession. How did we get here, and what is memorabilia’s role as an alternative investment? What are the analytical strategies deployed by players in this industry rife with subjection around nostalgia and art? With six and seven figure price tags, are the days of collecting as a childhood hobby behind us? The panel brings together experts with a wide range of experience to debate the past, present, and future of the memorabilia business.
Reaction: NFTs...what the hell are they? Why are people blowing money on them? I honestly have no idea. Daryl assumes we all know though, so dives right in. I think of NFTs like virtual and verifiable art collecting. I don't even know if I'm right about that, but that's how I currently think of them.Purchasing behavior for NFTs seems pretty erratic, much like art. Buying something virtual that you like because you like it, and then hoping it appreciates. Roham mentions a digital sneaker company that has shoe art he really likes. I personally can't imagine collecting real sneakers, let alone virtual ones, but to each their own!What folks seem to agree on: sports offer a clear value dynamic for digital collectibles. There is an existing physical market for collectibles so it stands to reason that a digital one would hold up in the long-term as well. Mark Cuban says he buys a lot of Kristaps Porzingis TopShot highlights, which he believes are undervalued - as a basketball fan who is always thinking of player value in terms of winning, it's not a crazy mental leap to think of "underpriced assets" in terms of virtual highlights...although the market where that value is derived is not as cut-and-dry as if a shot is made or missed, or if a game is won or lost. Fun as a collector, but hard as a speculator, to see what will happen with something like that in terms of investment.Leore believes that physical cards function a lot like art and can be invested in just like stocks. His company OnlyAlt, allows fans to invest in physical cards (much like the company StockX, for sneakers) but have verified ownership and frictionless transaction virtually. This makes more sense to me, a plebian, since there is a tangible product involved. I'm familiar with collecting a thing that exists and OnlyAlt seems to make that much easier.
NFTs like NBA TopShot can be lucrative...but will
they stick around or fade into obscurity?
On the intangible side, Nicolas, who built a global fantasy football (soccer) game where you can trade and collect NFTs of virtual player cards, has a different offering that leverages blockchain verifiability to let fans "own" a card that exists only in a virtual space for the purposes of a fantasy soccer game. The "scouting" element of being a fan/collector is therefore important - invest in up-and-comers to both win the fantasy game in the long term, but also grow the asset as a separate valuable outside of the game for which it is used. Roham's Cryptokitties was similarly built to be a playable game first, with NFT assets as a complementary component to a larger game of cats (I do not know how to play cats, I'm a dog person). Meanwhile, his other - perhaps more popular or at least more mainstream- company TopShot (NBA highlight trading cards) is asset-driven first, where owning the unique virtual highlight is the entire draw. Roham's philosophy is that customers should buy things they like and see what happens. I'd prefer to spend my money elsewhere but I appreciate his sentiment and generally agree with this idea for a budding market.Back in reality, there are some fairly serious real sports world implications to all of this virtual trading: Mark Cuban mentioned players wanting to better understand how to market and earn off of their own TopShot highlights. Daryl Morey also mentioned something similar on a GM call: "players are complaining that a moment on TopShot is going for $250k...where's my money?" A valid and interesting concern - something the NBA (and other leagues), will need to settle soon as this digital asset market grows. If someone was making money off of my highlight and that person isn't the league or media station with whom I am already contracted with, I'd want to know how to get a cut too.Mark and Daryl close by joking who has the best Lazy.com collection - a place where NFT collectors can show off their virtual collections. Must be nice! I gotta say, this stuff is a little too meta for me, so thanks for bearing with my hampered analysis of this discussion about the emerging virtual sub-economy.
Description: Over two weeks in February, the value of a pristine condition Michael Jordan rookie card went from $215,000 to $738,000. The value of sports memorabilia - ranging from cards, to sneakers, to even digital highlights - has reached an all time high despite a pandemic and recession. How did we get here, and what is memorabilia’s role as an alternative investment? What are the analytical strategies deployed by players in this industry rife with subjection around nostalgia and art? With six and seven figure price tags, are the days of collecting as a childhood hobby behind us? The panel brings together experts with a wide range of experience to debate the past, present, and future of the memorabilia business.
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| NFTs like NBA TopShot can be lucrative...but will they stick around or fade into obscurity? |
On the intangible side, Nicolas, who built a global fantasy football (soccer) game where you can trade and collect NFTs of virtual player cards, has a different offering that leverages blockchain verifiability to let fans "own" a card that exists only in a virtual space for the purposes of a fantasy soccer game. The "scouting" element of being a fan/collector is therefore important - invest in up-and-comers to both win the fantasy game in the long term, but also grow the asset as a separate valuable outside of the game for which it is used. Roham's Cryptokitties was similarly built to be a playable game first, with NFT assets as a complementary component to a larger game of cats (I do not know how to play cats, I'm a dog person). Meanwhile, his other - perhaps more popular or at least more mainstream- company TopShot (NBA highlight trading cards) is asset-driven first, where owning the unique virtual highlight is the entire draw. Roham's philosophy is that customers should buy things they like and see what happens. I'd prefer to spend my money elsewhere but I appreciate his sentiment and generally agree with this idea for a budding market.
2:00pm-2:45pm Phillie Phanatics
Speaker(s): Kevin Neghandi, Daryl Morey, Lil Dicky
Description: From Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack to T-Swift’s Girl Gang, many a backroom legend has been told about exclusive celebrity supergroups. But only a select few have been deemed worthy enough to have picked up whispers of an ultra-elite group of superfans – until today. This unlikely squad is not bound by underground poker games, lavish parties, or even a literal friendship, but rather by their undying love for Philadelphia sports. The panel will discuss what exactly connects fans so deeply to their teams and what levers teams and fans can pull when engaging with one another.
Reaction: Three Philly icons talking about Philly sports? Sign me up! Temple grad and ESPN great Kevin Neghandhi moderated a panel with rapper/actor Lil Dicky (Dave) and Sixers President of Basketball Ops Daryl Morey - and it did not disappoint!
Three Philly icons! What's better than that?!
Dave says after achieving his dreams in rap and comedy, the NBA must be next. Daryl joked that he would see what is available for the Blue Coats. Meanwhile, Daryl is also wondering when his honeymoon phase will run out with Philadelphia fans, but Kevin - ever the voice of us Philly fans - assured him that the fact he is real and authentic will bode well for him, even in the event of failure or no championship. As we say here: Trust the Process.Dave believes the guys who get in trouble in Philly sports with our local media are the guys who have a bit of elitist attitude, such as Chip Kelly (yup!!). He doesn't believe Daryl falls into this category and I wholeheartedly agree - Daryl is clearly a down-to-earth straight shooter and as a Sixers fan I've loved having him around the team already...especially when compared to cloak-and-dagger Colangelos (multiple) of year's past. Kevin was curious how Dave stays in touch with Philadelphia so well despite living in LA. Dave says that sometimes the time difference is actually helpful in terms of following teams. Dave also listens to WIP religiously, so stays plugged in that way too. Daryl approaches the local media by keeping up on Twitter and following "thought leaders" online in the local sports community - I can think of at least one podcast, my personal favorite Rights To Ricky Sanchez (who has had Daryl on before!).
Soon after, the group traded stories of when they first knew that they "made it" - for Dave, his first video going viral and for Daryl, his first draft going well. Kevin shared his story of doing his first SportsCenter and elaborated that he has found being a fan on camera to bode well for his career, letting locals know he's "one of them". I certainly feel this way - Kevin is clearly #TempleMade and Philly through-and-through. As a Philly fan, it's great to have someone like him represent in the national landscape at ESPN.Kevin then asked Daryl how he handles trade conversation internally with online rumors/presence of fans wanting to know what is going on at all times. Daryl says: "I'm mostly trying to handle the expectations of fans. When someone is out there writing X, Y, Z will happen, I'm trying to help them understand the (low) odds of that happening". This strategy of expectation management makes sense to me - I use the same strategy with my clients in market research. Fortunately for me, business clients are (usually) less crazy than an entire fanbase.I enjoyed learning that Dave as a "superfan" is apparently much like me as a regular fan - he keeps in touch with 10 guys he grew up with on a text thread and talk about the Sixers and life. This has essentially become my life as well and I suspect the life of most fans, so it was cool to hear that yes, celebrities are just like us! :)Daryl has spoken with Sam Hinkie since taking the job in Philadelphia. "We had always talked about what he did would be the right way for the right team...as we say he died for our sins." Sam, of course, still actively roots for the Sixers. I actually ran into Sam at the 2020 pre-Covid Sloan Analytics conference myself last year and said hello. While infamous for The Process (Sam, if you're reading this, from the bottom of my heart THANK YOU!!), I'd imagine that he'll be back at future in-person conferences to discuss his fascinating investment career.On a closing note, Dave's personal use of analytics in his music and television show is minimal, but does think about things like post timing in terms of going viral and things like that. He believes there are plenty of analytics in his show bookings, but he doesn't do any of that himself. "The only AI I know is Iverson," he says. For Dave, his favorite childhood sports memory is when Iverson stepped over Lue in the 2001 Finals. Me too man, me too.Everyone on this panel spoke with a level of honesty and realism that made this conversation very enjoyable, so I really hope its posted in full online for my fellow Philadelphians. We got some good ones here in the City of Brotherly Love.
Description: From Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack to T-Swift’s Girl Gang, many a backroom legend has been told about exclusive celebrity supergroups. But only a select few have been deemed worthy enough to have picked up whispers of an ultra-elite group of superfans – until today. This unlikely squad is not bound by underground poker games, lavish parties, or even a literal friendship, but rather by their undying love for Philadelphia sports. The panel will discuss what exactly connects fans so deeply to their teams and what levers teams and fans can pull when engaging with one another.
 |
| Three Philly icons! What's better than that?! |
Soon after, the group traded stories of when they first knew that they "made it" - for Dave, his first video going viral and for Daryl, his first draft going well. Kevin shared his story of doing his first SportsCenter and elaborated that he has found being a fan on camera to bode well for his career, letting locals know he's "one of them". I certainly feel this way - Kevin is clearly #TempleMade and Philly through-and-through. As a Philly fan, it's great to have someone like him represent in the national landscape at ESPN.
Final Thoughts:
Due to some scheduling conflicts, I unfortunately had to miss the last couple panels of the day each day, but if you're interested, be sure to check out those and all the other panels that I didn't attend at https://www.sloansportsconference.com/. I'll try to add links to videos as they become available as well.
In closing, I was thrilled to attend the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference this year, even virtually and would like to express my thanks to all the students, Daryl Morey, and Jessica Gelman for putting on such a great event each and every year - no matter the challenging circumstances.
I'm really looking forward to my 8th year - hopefully in person - next year.
Until then? Trust the Process.
