Beyond MoneyBall: Sports Analytics and the Real World

In this edition of FastForward, Dave Schrader talks with us about the unexpected relationship between business analytics and sports analytics. What does the world of sports have to teach us about doing business in the age of digital transformation and data driven business models?

Dave talks us through the story of how an analytics guru from the business world become an expert in sports analytics. He tells how he came to be spearheading “Moneyball” projects at college campuses all over the world. In these projects, students with an interest in math or statistics take on an analytical challenege using real data from one (or more) of the school’s athletic programs.

He explains why these projects are so helpful for students:

“Many problems in the world of business have analogues for sports. For example, most companies collect information to do better marketing to customers – CRM. But change C to F for Fan and many of the problems are the same. How to market to fans, How to price products is simiar to how to price individual game or season tickets? How to encourage people to renew phone contracts is very similar to how to get fans to renew season tickets. The analytics methods and the tools you use are identical.”

Dave also shows why there is more to sports analytics than most of us realize. It isn’t just batting averages these days. Projects in sports analytics can deal with complex issues like fan loyalty and player health markers.

Join us for a fascinating discussion.

About Out Guest

With PhD in Computer Science from Purdue, Dave Schrader – – known to many as “Dr Dave” — has managed engineering and marketing functions in a number of settings within the analytics and database field, most recently for Teradata. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Teradata University Network – a free resource with 5000 faculty and 12,000 student participants. Dave is best known for his role as an advocate for sports analytics. Last year alone he gave 59 talks on the subject at 32 different universities, reaching more than 2,200 students. He is currently launching a series of Moneyball-inspired campus projects in which students apply their math, stats, and computer science skills to real projects often from their own school’s athletic departments.

FF 005-758

Music: www.bensound.com | Image from Pixabay.com

About Phil 523 Articles
Phil Bowermaster is a nationally recognized author and speaker. He has more than 25 years experience writing about emerging technologies and the future. As co-host of the popular Internet radio series, The World Transformed, Phil has talked with leading scientists and technologists, best-selling authors, philosophers, filmmakers, artists, entrepreneurs and others who are shaping our understanding of the amazing era of transformation in which we live. Phil helps leaders and their organizations develop strategies for managing accelerating change. He shows how imagination, optimism, empathy, and humor can make all the difference in both understanding and making the most of the powerful currents of change we face.