SSAC

Lessons From The Edge: Understanding Humans In The Pursuit of Peak Performance

Olav Aleksander Bu - Co-Founder, Head of Performance for Norway Triathlon, Santara Technology
Chris Cassidy - Retired NASA Astronaut & NAVY Seal, President and CEO, National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation
Roberta Groner - Professional Runner, USATF and RRCA Coach
Steve Magness (moderator) - Performance Coach, Author

 

What do space flight and endurance sports have in common? Both demand the highest level of physical and mental performance, requiring astronauts and athletes alike to push their limits and strive for peak performance. Achieving this goal requires a comprehensive approach that integrates training, recovery, nutrition, and perhaps most important of all mental toughness. This panel will explore what peak human performance means and whether or not it is attainable, drawing on the insights and expertise of Olav Aleksander Bu (coach of Ironman World Champions Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden), Chris Cassidy (former Navy Seal and NASA Astronaut), and Roberta Gronder (American Distance Runner). Join Author and Performance Coach, Steve Magness as he leans on his experience to sift through the complexities and understand what matters most in the pursuit for peak human performance.

Sports and Technology: Bringing Performance to the Next Level

Tracey Kitt - Chief Technology Officer, Sony's Sports Businesses
Megan Schroeder - Senior Director, Performance Science, Los Angeles Dodgers
Michael D'Auria - Chief Commercial Officer, Second Spectrum
Christina Chase (moderator) - Co-Founder, Managing Director MIT Sports Lab

 

The rapid rise of the use of analytics in sports has created demand for new and unique datasets that can help provide an edge over the competition. With the commercialization of motion capture technology, player and object movements can be analyzed and recreated down to the finest detail. For sports teams and leagues, this revolutionary new age of data capture has unlocked so many possibilities in terms of player evaluation, game strategy, and coaching. Furthermore, this advanced data capture has changed the way that games are officiated and administered, providing a path to fairer outcomes. Led by MIT's Christina Chase, hear from Tracey Kitt (Sony's Sports Businesses), Megan Schroeder (LA Dodgers) and Mike D'Auria (Second Spectrum) to learn more about how these exciting technologies are being applied in the sports industry.

The Ultimate Team Sport: Building Better Football Rosters with Analytics

Steve Palazzolo - Head of Product for the Football Division, Pro Football Focus (PFF)
Thomas Dimitroff - CEO, SumerSports
Kevin Demoff - Chief Operating Officer, Los Angeles Rams
Jacqueline Davidson - Senior Director of Football Research, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Seth Walder (moderator) - Analytics Writer, ESPN

 

Football teams across the NFL are using analytics to build an edge over their competition, with improved roster construction being a chief use case. This has also created numerous opportunities for companies to build solutions that provide teams with the data and analytics they need to truly create an edge. Super Bowl winning executives and leaders from SumerSports and PFF convene on this panel to discuss how teams are currently using analytics to build that edge. Potential areas of discussion include how teams are building through the draft, how to prioritize cap allocation to the correct players and positions, approaches to free agency, and the handling of all the variables that come with trading. Panelists will touch on how teams are deploying analytics today, what has and hasn’t worked well in the league thus far, and where teams will be putting more of their analytics focus in the coming years.

Soccer’s Analytics Frontier

Omar Chaudhuri - Chief Intelligence Officer, Twenty First Group
Sarah Rudd - Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, src | ftbl
Mladen Sormaz - Director of Football Analytics, 777 Partners Football Group
John Muller (moderator) - Senior Writer, The Athletic

 

Soccer is both perhaps the most "unsolvable" major sport and earlier in the analytics adoption curve at the club level, making it an extremely exciting time for the global leaders pushing the boundaries of soccer analytics. The beautiful game's analytics research grows more fascinating by the year, with concepts like expected possession value models, pitch control, talent development, set piece optimization, and more gaining more traction. Meanwhile, clubs have become massive businesses, spending hundreds of millions of pounds on individual players while still unsure of how to integrate even basic analytical insights into their decision-making processes. This panel gathers the sport's brightest minds from the world's leading clubs, analytics consultancies, data providers, and researchers to truly dig into soccer's analytics frontier.

Leveling Up: How Basketball Teams Deploy Analytics to Develop Players

Mike Zarren - VP of Basketball Operations and Team Counsel, Boston Celtics
Shane Battier - Former Vice President, Analytics and Basketball Development, Miami Heat; 2012 & 2013 NBA Champion, Miami Heat
Katherine Evans - VP of Research and Information Systems, Monumental Sports & Entertainment
Ben Cohen (moderator) - Author, Wall Street Journal

 

Analytics has transformed how players, coaches and front offices approach player development. The use of data analysis and advanced metrics has provided teams with valuable insights into player performance, allowing teams to tailor their training and development programs to better meet the needs of individual players. In addition, analytics has also led to a shift in how players approach their own development, as they now have access to detailed data about their own performance and can use this information to identify areas for improvement. Furthermore, the use of analytics has also impacted roster construction, as front offices and coaches now use data to make more informed decisions about everything from blockbuster trades to lineups. Join us as NBA Champion Shane Battier and front office executives Mike Zarren (Boston Celtics) and Katherine Evans (Washington Wizards) discuss the ways in which analytics has revolutionized the way that players, coaches and front offices approach player development.

Creating an NFL Player Tracking Metric presented by ESPN

Seth Walder - Analytics Writer, ESPN
Brian Burke - Data Scientist, ESPN
Allison Loucks (moderator) - Director, Business Development & Innovation, ESPN

 

ESPN Analytics will take a deep dive into what the team has done to tell differentiating stories with player tracking data, using the prism of Receiver Tracking Metrics, its newest offering using NFL Next Gen Stats data.

Bet On It: A Conversation on Innovation in the Sports Betting Industry

Amy Howe - CEO, FanDuel
Tom Reeg - CEO, Caesars
Jonathan Kraft - President, The Kraft Group
Contessa Brewer (moderator) - Correspondent, CNBC

 

While sports betting has exploded in popularity recently in the US, only 1 in 5 Americans placed a bet on sports in 2022. As more states legalize sports betting (including Massachusetts in August 2022) and technological innovations drive adoption and accessibility, sports betting is poised for rapid growth. At this same time, sports teams and leagues are looking for new ways to attract new fans and broaden their demographics all while further engaging existing fans. This has come to a fever pitch as sports betting companies race to partner with teams and leagues in the pursuit of continued growth. This panel will explore the evolving landscape of sports betting, the ways in which innovation is driving growth in the industry, and how the landscape is different across leagues with the change agents of the gaming industry. Led by CNBC's Contessa Brewer, hear from Jonathan Kraft (The Kraft Group), Amy Howe (FanDuel) and Tom Reeg (Caesars) as the leaders driving fan engagement and innovation.

Big Events, Big Tickets, Big Experiences: Managing the Fan Experience When Stakes are Highest

Molly Pendleton - Head of Touring, NHL and MLS, Eventellect
Ryan Tanke - COO, Minnesota Timberwolves & Lynx
Brian Lafemina - Chief Business Officer, LA28
Sezin Aksoy - Senior Vice President, Global Data Strategy & Analytics, AXS
Shira Springer (moderator) - MIT Sloan Lecturer and Journalist, MIT Sloan

 

While companies are pouring billions of dollars into media and streaming rights to bring events to the masses, there is nothing that can replicate a live viewing experience: the sights, smells, sounds, and energy of a stadium is so unique. The stakes are only amplified when the events and experiences are big - fan expectations skyrocket in parallel with ticket prices. This panel convenes leading executives from ticketing companies, teams, and major events to discuss how to price the biggest tickets and deliver the boldest experiences all in the name providing fans an unforgettable live experience.

Start Me Up: How New Leagues Are Innovating Sports and Capturing Fans

Jon Patricof - CEO and Co-Founder, Athletes Unlimited
Katlyn Gao - Co-Founder and CEO, LOVB
Andrew Sinnenberg - Chief Operating Officer, Premier Lacrosse League (PLL)
Johanna Boynton - Chair and Principal Owner, Toronto Six (PHF)
Shira Springer (moderator) - MIT Sloan Lecturer and Journalist, MIT Sloan

 

Amid seemingly endless opportunities for entertainment, the drama and excitement of sports remains a core part of our culture and continues to capture our attention. Shifting participation trends in youth and high school sports will shape the fans of the future. For example, volleyball - with over 450,000 participants in 2022 - is poised to overtake track and field as the most popular high school girls sport in the US. Amid these changes, we have seen a wave of new leagues - outside the Big 4 sports - pushing the boundaries of traditional league operations through unique approaches to fan engagement, team structure, player empowerment, and gameplay. This panel will dive into the strategies and tactics of innovative leagues like Athletes Unlimited, League One Volleyball, Premier League Lacrosse, and Premier Hockey Federation and outline what's in store for the exciting next chapter of professional sports.

Partnerships 2.0: Data, Dollars, and Digitalization

Paul Caine - President, Endeavor’s IMG Events and On Location
John Sheeran - Senior Commercial Director, FanDuel
Elizabeth Lindsey - President, Brands and Properties, Wasserman
Jeff Price - Chief Commercial Officer, PGA of America
Abe Madkour (moderator) - Publisher & Executive Editor, Sports Business Journal, Sports Business Daily/Global

 

In the last decade, traditional sponsorships have evolved into broader partnerships with deeper integrations and expectations. The current age of data and digitization has also fundamentally impacted sports partnerships in recent years: we are getting close to the "holy grail" of determining the value behind partnerships. On this panel, we combine holistic perspectives from the PGA of America, Wasserman, Endeavor, and FanDuel to provide insights into how data analytics has revolutionized sports partnerships and allowed both the brands and talent to calculate successes and failures.