CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference kicks off its seventh year on March 1 and 2, 2013, with a celebrated roster of speakers that will include NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, EPL owners and coaches, industry leaders, researchers, and the journalists that follow them.
Presented by ESPN, the two-day conference being held at the Boston Convention Center will provide a forum to discuss the increasing role of analytics in the sports industry, and how analytics can improve sports management and the fan experience. Conference organizers are anticipating more than 2,700 attendees, a 25% growth rate from 2012.
Sports, political and economic statistician Nate Silver will join such speakers as:
- Michael Lewis, Author, The Blind Side and Moneyball
- Mark Cuban, Owner, Dallas Mavericks; Co-founder & Chairman, HDNet
- Adam Silver, COO and Deputy Commissioner, NBA
- Stan Van Gundy, ESPN Analyst; former NBA Head Coach
- John Skipper, President, ESPN
- Jonathan Kraft, President, The Kraft Group
- Stan Kasten, President, Los Angeles. Dodgers
- Phil De Picciotto, President, Octagon
- Steve Pagliuca, Owner, Boston Celtics
- Bob Bowman, President, MLB Advance Media
- Brian Burke, Senior Advisor, Toronto Maple Leafs
Henry Abbott, a senior writer and blogger for ESPN, and Daniel Coyle, the New York Times bestselling author of Lance Armstrong’s War and The Secret Race, will discuss the Lance Armstrong scandal and the doping culture in sports.
Panels debuting this year include ‘Revenge of the Nerds,’ which spotlights the meteoric rise and dominance of probabilistic thinking using objective data in decision making across all disciplines. ‘Nerds’ will pose the question: Will there be room for traditional thinking in decision making? “It’s Not You, It’s Me,” meanwhile, will discuss whether or not coaches get fired too frequently, what the data tells us about how high profile sports breakups impact performance on the field, and whether there are lessons to be learned from some of the most well-known make-ups and breakups in professional sports. The impact of analytics on mixed martial arts and motorsports will also be explored for the first time.
Many of last year’s most popular panels are returning as well, including those focused on the impact of analytics on basketball, football, baseball, hockey, and soccer. Additional panel topics are:
- The Changing Nature of Ownership
- The Value of Sports Sponsorship: Analytics and Impact
- Staying Relevant: Social Media Analytics
- eAnalytics: Sports Marketing in the Digital Age
- Beyond Reason: Sports Labor Negotiations
- Fanalytics
“As a student-run conference, we are very proud to be leading and fostering the analytics discussion,” says conference co-chair Jessica Gelman, Vice President of Customer Marketing & Strategy for the Kraft Sports Group and the New England Patriots. “With the mainstream acceptance of analytics, we have attracted our most impressive sports industry leaders yet.”
The popular Evolution of Sports (EOS) talks and research papers competition presented by SAP will once again showcase the future of analytics. Recent winners, such as Joe Sill, are already impacting sports. Sill was named director of analytics at the Washington Wizards based on his research and work presented at the conference.
“The central goal of this conference has always been to highlight the analytical innovation within the sports industry,” says conference co-chair Daryl Morey, General Manger of the Houston Rockets and an alumnus of MIT Sloan. “It’s truly rewarding and a testament to continuing to meet our core mission of expanding analytical career opportunities in sports and industry progression as a whole.”
Returning sponsors are Wasserman Media Group, Ticketmaster, and Stubhub. New sponsors are Major League Baseball Advanced Media, Verizon, SAP, Vertica, and Ropes & Gray LLP.
To learn more or register for the conference, which is open to anyone interested in sports, please visit: http://www.sloansportsconference.com
MIT Sloan School of Management is dedicated to fostering growth in the sports analytics arena, and the annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference is designed to enrich opportunities for learning about the sports business world. The conference is open to anyone interested in sports.