MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference

Leah Raphael lraphael@usc.edu
2016 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference Notes
Moneyball Reunion
Speakers: Billy Beane, VP of Operations for the Oakland Athletics; Bill James, Sports
Analytics Writer; Michael Lewis, Author of Moneyball; and Jackie MacMullan, Senior
Writer at ESPN
 Lewis had never written a book on sports but came about the A’s story in a time
where salaries were exploding and class warfare in baseball was emerging, so
how were they winning with so little money?
 2002 MLB Draft
o Imagine if they got two everyday MLB players out of the 50 rounds of the
draft, normally only one player every round makes it
o How to maximize picks with a lower budget by looking for guys with
deceiving appearance because that would lower their market value
 Baseball has its flaws as a product
o Getting rid of the balk rule would lead to less stoppage of the game
o The pitcher should be able to stand on the mound and do whatever he
wants
 Same as basketball without a fast break
 Allows for a live ball game if fakes are allowed
 Quarterback and Pitcher control the game, you cant win with a bottom 10 QB
 On female reporters: women never think they’re too cool to ask questions
 Some draft decisions fail because of the lack of effort to get personal information
and learn who these players are when making employment decisions
o Statistics does not equal character
 Moneyball led to college player’s value increasing because it focused on the
merits of drafting more developed players

Competitive Advantage - Filling the Seats: Perception Versus Reality on What
Drives Fan Experience
Speakers: Mike Bernstein, VP Research and Insights at Wasserman; Jeff Nelson of
Navigate
 The power of experience is what brings people to games
 What makes a game a bucket list experience versus an every day luxury
 57% of fans stay at home
 Fan growth depends on the price of ticket
 Fan Experience Study
o Sample of 8,500 fans, 141 teams, and 130 venues in 20 major markets
o Purpose
 Understand fan priorities
 Reveal and benchmark performance
 Inform strategy with actionable insights
o Fans were surveyed about what they thought was important to experience
prior to an event and then again about their experience at the event
 Fans ranked food quality and scoreboard as low on the importance
scale, but those were the top two aspects that defined their
experience after a game
 Fans ranked technology (wifi, apps, etc) as less important to their
in game experience
 Fan focus and game entertainment ranked #2 and #3 behind overall
atmosphere when in stadiums
 Cost was the lowest ranking factor of fan experience
 Atmosphere was the most important factor across leagues
 Customer service ranks #2 most important factor with NFL teams
 Hispanic fans care about the players the most – will attend games
specifically to see a certain player
o Fans said their favorite part of attending the event was socializing with
other fans during tailgates or after games
 Arizona Cardinals hold tailgates with Cornhole games and TVs to
watch earlier games
o The higher the income of a fan, the more likely they are to attend
 Less than ¼ of the US population is able to attend games because
of the cost
 Leagues need to find ways to appeal to the masses to stay relevant
 AT&T Stadium ranks the highest in fan satisfaction for a venue and the Patriots
rank highest for a team
 Fenway Park Case Study
o Ranks high locally and nationally, but falls short in categories like
bathroom cleanliness
 It’s critical to move beyond basic fan feedback
 New solutions around pricing and affordability
 Market social experience of attendance to non-attendees
 Fans aren’t monolithic – important to cater to all demographics

 In the NFL, performance of the team matters most because there are the least
amount of games, whereas in the MLB a loss isn’t as disappointing because going
to a game is “just a day at the ballpark”

Sponsorship Analytics: The New Yardstick for Brands & Properties
Speakers: Kathy Carter, President of Marketing at Soccer United; Valerie Camillo, CRO
of the Washington Nationals; Elizabeth Lindsey, Managing Partner at Wasserman; Greg
Va, Global Director of Sports Marketing at Gillette; Nick Kelly, Director of Experiential
Marketing at Anheuser-Busch; and Jason Belzer, President of Global Athlete
Management Enterprises
 Using data to make better decisions
o Sales, ceiling for revenue – does the product enhance game experience?
o Clients need very different data to make decisions
 Leagues do a lot of work in terms of demographics, but teams don’t
 It’s important to find a story rooted in analysis to pitch to partners
 Own the head and the heart, analytics provide the head
 FIFA video game is an entry point into being a soccer fan
 Passion based industry: fans care about the sport and the athlete
o Methodical way to find qualitative version of metrics
o Support craving for authenticity
 Sponsorship business has tripled in the last few years
 Making things specific to the brand
 Collaborative process to determine what should come out of the project
 Sometimes sponsorships move past brand awareness
 Sports allow a platform that includes TV, digital, and expeiential engagement,
activations have to figure out how to use all three well
o Experiental allows the most creativity
 Cultural shift towards analytics
 What do you want from this partnership and what are brands willing to buy it for
 Emotional triggers drive value of set up
 Can’t cash in on one great Super Bowl win year because then brands will leave
after a bad year
o People leaving early and arriving late causes lost revenue
o Longitudinal outlook – data shows trends over the years and predicts
future

Serving the Sports Fan With Analytics
Speakers: Neil Greenberg, Sports Writer at the Washington Post; Sharon Katz, ESPN
Sports Analytics Writer; Nate Silver, Founder 538; Pablo Torre, Senior Writer at ESPN;
and Alok Pttani, Associate Director of Sports Analytics at ESPN
 Player tracking data
o Speed  tracking a linebacker as they make a tackle or receiver as they
run for a touchdown
 Numbers might tell you about the player but analytics can predict and analyze
how that player will fit into the team
 Data requires a lot of context
 People look at data selectively
 Grey area in assigned probability
 Athletes should see analytics as a tool to track and improve performance
 Image charting win probability during an NFL game

The Future of the Fan Experience
Speakers: Jonathan Kraft, President of the Kraft Group; Michael Rubin, Executive
Chairman, Fanatics; Jared Smith, President of Ticketmaster North America; and Andrea
Kremer, NFL Network Chief Coorespondant
 We want to know exactly who is in the stadium
o Tickets are an anonymous product
o Process hasn’t changed in 30-40 years
o Security aspect of exactly who’s in the stadium becoming more important
o Digital ticket on a phone becoming increasingly more prevalent
 Who is interacting with all other mediums of the product – sports compete for
attention, passion, dollars
 Getting hype moments in sports out on social media/digital as quickly as possible
to get fans excited about sports content
 Paper tickets are not the enemy, but push towards mobile environment to get more
information about customers
o Paper tickets are souvenirs for a lot of fans
o Digital tickets are an investment in future generations
 Patriots Gameday app for season ticket holders
o Interviews with players at the hotel the night before the game
o Team alarm clock with Gronk yelling at you to wake up
o Season ticket holders are sent physical tickets that they can digitize with
the app
o During the game the app allows for fans to call up replays, next season
will include virtual reality
o Creates a destination beyond the event
o Patriots have 18,000 season ticket holders, but a fan base of 5 million
 No mass market emails, occasionally use Facebook targeted ads
o Social media is often used as an extension of a team’s PR, but it needs to
be more focused on the exact medium and be a form of entertainment
 Patriots are #1 in social media engagement in the NFL
 Fans want:
o Their team to win
o Special access to team experience
o People want to feel like they’re a part of something
 Collecting experiences rather than items
o Flexibility – 3 game ticket pack, share partners, time share model for
season tickets
 Eliminating secondary ticket brokers
o Patriots app allows for season ticket holders to sell at face value
 Sports is becoming global
o Soccer clubs set the example
o All about media rights
o International fan clubs help introduce new fans to the NFL
o Football is a hard sport to learn
o Patriots opened an office in China and funded flag football leagues before
the NFL asked them to shut down

 People are more loyal to players than teams
o NFL sells more than 2,000 different jerseys because of transactions
 In stadium fan experience
o Wifi to power app
o There’s no evidence people would rather stay at home because of HDTV
o App makes things more convienent
o Dunkin Donuts promotion: 10% of every purchase goes to your Patriots
season ticket package if you are part of Dunkin’s loyalty program

#KingdomUnited – How the Kansas City Chiefs Utilized Social Media, Technology,
and Game Presentation to Convert Casual NFL Fans to Chiefs Fans in the UK and
Beyond
Speaker: Bill Chapin, SVP Business Operations, Kansas City Chiefs
 Creating the hashtag #ChiefsKingdom + United Kingdom = #KingdomsUnite
 Previous NFL teams who played in London weren’t engaging the UK fan
 They did a good job of activating while they were in the UK, but failed to keep
fans interested after they left
 20% of traffic to NFL club sites is from outside of the United States
 In the UK, the NFL is considered more inclusive—fans more likely to bring their
daughters to NFL games over EPL
 NFL fans use mobile more than other leagues
 Strategy
o Team Affinity: casual fans become Chiefs fans
o Grow International Audience: TV deals
o Unite the Kingdoms: empower fans to rally behind common concept
 Social Media
o Show UK fans we’re alike in many ways
o Previous teams had used the image of a helmet in front of iconic locations
o Chiefs created clear cards with cutouts of QB, flag, and other images and
gave them to season ticket holders at meet ups
o Social Media Campaign
 Localized messaging: translation Arrowhead Abroad
 Pub Party
o Included members of Chiefs front office serving beer to fans
o Creates a great story for people to tell about their experience
o Allows local and travelling fans to unite for a common concept
 They wanted to convey what is happening in London is what you see in
Arrowhead
o Rituals of game presentation: hand motions, flags, 80ft fire when team
comes out of the tunnel
o Walking with the Wounded – military partnership during game similar to
what you see in the US
 Results
o Goal of 1-2 million international web views  875,000 international web
views
o Goal of 5 million Facebook reach  7.2 million Facebook reach
o Gained 25,000 Facebook likes, 40,000 Twitter followers, and 12,000
Instagram followers in four days
 Next season
o Pub party in away cities every game in 2016
o Create Chiefs Kingdom brand Ale and flag

Redefining Home Field Advantage: Strategies for Enhancing Fan Engagement
Speaker: Pete Giorgio, Principal at Deloitte Sports Consulting
pgiorgio@deloitte.com
 People are happy to engage with their favorite team, but not so much with an
insurance company
 50% of fans who played sports as kids become fanatics as adults
 Fanatics spend 6 times more than causal fans
 47% of fans engage more or less than their self described affinity level
 The goal is to build a new relationship with fans
o Once you know who your fans are, you have to create a personal
relationship
o Demographics aren’t specific enough  engage with fans based on their
attitudes and behaviors when thinking of audience segmentation
 Think holistically about experience
 Engage with fans year round
o Season ticket members spend 5 times more on non-ticket purchases
 Recognize loyalty – sports invented loyalty
 People want to be part of the team
 One of the best examples of fan engagement is the Green Bay Packers
shareholder program

The Evolution of Ownership
Speakers: Wyc Grousbeck, Managing Partner and CEO of the Boston Celtics; Stan
Kroenke, Owner of Kroenke Sports Enterprises; Sam Kennedy, President of the Boston
Red Sox; Brian Lafemina, SVP of NFL Club Business Development; Jessica Gelman, VP
of Customer Marketing & Strategy at the Kraft Sports Group
 Grousbeck got involved in sports ownership to bring a championship to Boston
rather than money
 Kroenke wasn’t able to be an athlete himself, so he decided he wanted to own a
team—he just had to figure out how to afford it
 The best owners in sports watch the business side as well as the player side
 The amount of money in the industry has forced it to become more sophisticated,
leading to even more investment
o “Wandering around” leads to success
 Media deals  Kroenke created regional network in Denver
 Inglewood stadium
o Risk of buying property before team moved was huge
o Lots of competition for which team moved
o The move to LA is good for the league in the long run
o LA is the biggest entertainment capital – not having an NFL team in the
entertainment capital in the country where the NFL is the most successful
is failing to capitalize on opportunity
 Building a stadium for the league rather than just the Rams
o The LA stadium will be the future of NFL stadiums
 Role of the NFL in LA
o Providing owners with as much information as possible
o Advertising NFL, not a specific team
 Fenway Park
o Renovations rather than a new ballpark to allow more new and different
events
o Ski jumping, outdoor hockey, concerts
 Game Entertainment
o The NFL used to not allow replays in the stadium
o Music was the only form of game entertainment
o Entertainment has become a huge priority
o Focusing on the shared real experience is more important than digital
 Can’t forget the human element
 When hiring: sales people who can analyze are the most ideal
o Get the best in the business and let them do their jobs
 Being in the LA Coliseum will improve the Rams brand
 NBA might play mid morning games to attract international audiences
o Basketball is becoming a global sport
 NFL Game Pass product provides OTT (over the top) content directly to fans
 Seeing games in person is great but there are so few opportunities, there needs to
be a way to get media in the hands of fans

 Proposed Celtics game at Fenway Park
 Social Media is accelerating the fan experience through sharing

Coffee and Football: Driving Digital Impact Through Strategic Sports Partnership
Speakers: Paul Murray, Senior Manager of Digital & Innovation Marketing at Dunkin
Brand and Tim Chu, Data Scientist ad DigitasLBi
 Panel focused on the Patriots and Dunkin Donuts partnership
o Dunkin Donuts has a rewards program through an app that allows
members to redeem free coffees after Patriots wins, exclusive content,
10% of Dunkin purchases goes towards Patriots season tickets
 Loyalty  happy and energetic customer
 Issue: 59% of Dunkin Donuts guests didn’t know a loyalty program existed or
assumed they were already part of the program
 Dunkin engages with brands like JetBlue, Spotify, Uber
 Sports partnerships bring together the loyalty for sports and a brand
 Tested in Philadelphia – free coffee after Eagles win
o Coffee for a Quarter-back promotion
 Patriots 365 Spending
o Rewards on season tickets
 Goals/Strategies
o Tech integration – leveraging technology to provide personalized and
richer digital experiences
 Sports partnerships are evolving with digital, leading to long term
measurable success
o Data sharing – advances in data science enable deeper data and analytics
integration between partners
 Leveraging more event based signals and analytics to drive brand
marketing
o Campaign design – designing better campaigns through testing and
experiences
 Finding the right balance of tech, analytics, and marketing
synergies

Above: Member enrollment measured by Patriots record
Below: Social mentions of Dunkin partnership based on Patriots wins

1st and Goal: Football Analytics
Speakers: Thomas Dimitroff, General Manager of the Atlanta Falcons; Brian Burke,
Senior Analytics Specialist at ESPN; Sandy Weil, Director of Sports Analytics at Kronke
Sports & Entertainment; John Urschel, Baltimore Ravens Offensive Lineman; Bill
Barnwell, ESPN Staff Writer; Mike Reiss, ESPN Boston Reporter
 Dimitrioff: Analytics confirm and justify decisions and act as a trusted assistant
o Analytics provide evidence for a point that can explain what happened in a
game
 Analytics is about asking the right questions and interrogating the data to gain
insight and make a decision
 The decision is the most important part about how you use analytics
 Provides a quantitative view for the sport and helps find what’s at the core
 It’s important to note that all numbers need context
 NFL hopes to be more open minded about what they measure
o Basketball models are more predictive than football because since
basketball has more games there’s a larger sample size
 Analytics in coaching: Urschel
o Coaches discuss what was done well and how the game plan was executed
o If the defense gave them trouble they discuss why they didn’t recognize
the scheme and what they should have done better

The Future of Sports Media
Speakers: John Stankey, CEO AT&T Entertainment Group; Bill Koenig, President of
Global Media Distribution with the NBA; Chad Millman, VP Domestic Digital Content
at ESPN
 Media experiences have to be more immersive because of the cultural shift
towards shorter attention spans
 Data  digital community  new ways to engage
o Know your customer – know products they want and customize your
product to fit their needs
o Data as a content product
 Fantasy Sports are a classy term for gambling
o Initially there was a push to protect player statistics
o Found out that gambling/fantasy is important to brining in the casual and
curious fan
o Allows casual fan tools that they can use to “snack” on content and later
pay for the “main course”
 Everyone is searching for the optimization equation
o People only engage with things they’re passionate about
o Give suggestions, give people exactly what they want rather than a store
full of choices
 When the NBA tweets a link to a live stream of a game, half of the purchases
($6.99 per game) come after the game has started
 Basketball has intuitively more international appeal because it is easier to
understand

Business of Sports
Speakers: Tad Brown, CEO of the Houston Rockets; Jim Pallotta, Chairman and
Managing Director of the Raptor Group; Steve Pagliuca, Co-Owner and Managing
Partner of the Boston Celtics; Matt Sebal, Founder, Co-owner, and president of KORE
Software; Patrick Rische, Director of the Sports Business Program at Washington
University in St. Louis
 The Celtics ownership group had tech venture capital backgrounds
 The NBA has great data sharing program that allows the league to build the pie to
bring in more resources to the whole league
 Soccer – information isn’t shared, everyone is on their own
o Whatever you sell is yours – merchandise, sponsors, tickets, etc
o Share with TV contracts - $3 million to $35 million
o There is competition for media rights
o Buying and selling players in transfer market
 Sponsorship rate of return
o Closed loop system
o Soft reasons for sponsorship, but want teams to prove the return on
investment
 Jersey Sponsorships in the NBA
o Concerns: salary cap, revenue sharing  however jersey sponsorship is
going to happen
o There is expected to be early angst from fans because logos on jerseys
subvert tradition
o The $13-15 million a year from jersey sponsorships for a team could
finance stadium expenses and upgrades
 LA Live type venue in Rome for Soccer
o Will put the team in the top 5-6 revenue generating teams in the world
o Privately financed including the infrastructure
o Stadiums don’t generate enough revenue to make up for pubic subsidy
o There isn’t a good multi-purpose facility in Europe other than O2
 Rams Stadium Advice
o Go line by line with construction company
o Work on bringing existing fan base back
 Offer great experience, nostalgia
o Stay true to the market  LA is premium value oriented
 In a PR crisis, get the facts and get them out there quickly and in a professional
way

The Future of the Front Office
Speakers: Nick Caserio, Director of Player Personnel of the Patriots; Jeff Luhnow,
General Manager of the Houston Astros; Bob Myers, General Manager of the Golden
State Warriors; Daryl Morey, General Manager of the Houston Rockets; and Jackie
MacMullan, Senior Writer at ESPN
 Know analytics when presenting clients as free agents
 Patriots and Spurs are the examples for sustained success
 Wins come when there are few turnovers
o When there are no turnovers  90% chance of winning
 Analytics are like a bikini, they show you a lot but not everything
 Be careful about how you communicate analytics to players and coaches
 Rest and recovery will be a huge component of training
o Some teams using planes with sleep pods
o Hiring sleep specialists to work with teams
o There has been a surge of health and wellness technology and personnel
 Star crazy teams can have a lack of depth
 Baseball spends the most time on the development side of the sport

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