Data in Sports Analytics

Marketing brain is 24/7. Its a curse 😂 This question kept our marketing team up for months "How can we improve our sponsor experience?" One simple q during our all hands We all hyper focused on it It lived rent free in our heads Which is the beauty of marketing But also the curse haha Once you get INCEPTION, you cant shake an idea So we went to work thinking through everything we could to level up our sponsor experinece for all our brand partners who are often investing $ six figure amounts. The creative burden of this question led us to revamp our entire sponsor experience, starting with dashboards. This ended up being the biggest driver of sponsor NPS. Real time registration dashboards for sponsors. That we now run with this 4 step flow. Here's how it works 👇 Step 1: Real time registrant enrichment As attendees register, we automatically enrich each profile using Clay, Clearbit, and internal logic. This gives us a live data set with firmographics, technographics, company size, title level, and geography. Step 2: Sponsor facing filters Each sponsor can view the dashboard through their own lens: Want to break down VP+ titles in financial services? Filter. Want to see companies with 200 to 1,000 employees? Filter. Want to segment by RevOps tools in the stack? Filter. Step 3: Weekly summary reports Every Friday, sponsors receive an email with three key indicators: 1. New registrants 2. ICP match rates 3. RSVP velocity Step 4: Mid flight upgrade triggers If a spike in target accounts shows up two to three weeks before the event, we give sponsors the option to upgrade in real time. That might include adding things like: Extra 1:1 meeting rooms Booking a sponsored dinner slot Adding a breakout or session bump -- My final 0.02 for you The best marketing takes obsession When you obsess over the customer experience like this, you're bound to come up with at least a few winning ideas. Even if you have a few clunkers a long the way. So set a high standard for 10X ideas inside your org and give people the space to take big swings, not just small optimizations of your current state. Marketing brain is a beautiful thing (even if it drives us crazy along the way 😂)

Here’s my major prediction for the professional sports industry next year.   By the end of 2026, artificial intelligence will no longer be a fringe experiment in sports – it will be a foundational layer powering the industry’s growth, on and off the field. Any organization still relying on gut feel, spreadsheets, and siloed data will be structurally behind in both revenue and relevance.   It’s not just about performance. The integration of AI is reshaping every part of the sports business — from fan engagement and ticketing to media, commercial operations and player health. This is key to unlocking a new era of scalable value creation, sustaining the growth we’ve seen in recent decades.   AI is already bending the curve, and the growth potential looks a lot like a hockey stick:   💲 Spend is exploding: The global “AI in sports” market, estimated at nearly $9B in 2024, is forecast to reach $28B by 2030, a 21%+ CAGR. That’s not a side bet; it’s a signal of where leaders and operators see future value.   ⚕️ Performance & health are moving first: Teams working with specialized platforms have reported material outcomes. One AI system forecasts ~75% of potential athlete injury risks inside a seven-day window. Another is helping Major League Soccer teams cut total injuries by ~28% and reduce the salary paid to unavailable players by ~30% (equating to millions of dollars a season). Those are direct P&L and asset-protection gains, not just “innovation theatre”.   📣 Fan experience is being rewired in real time: The NBA’s work with Microsoft and AWS, for example, is pushing AI into games broadcasts: instant narrative-building, multilingual recaps, “Inside the Game” analytics feeds, and new experiences across apps, social media and even inside the stadium/arena. Formula 1 is also turning 1.1 million data points per second per car into predictive race insights and storytelling for a global audience.   By 2026, the true outliers won’t be the AI pioneers, they’ll be the organizations that failed to adapt. Here’s what’s becoming table stakes:   – A robust AI layer across ticketing, pricing, media, sponsorship, and performance – A single, integrated data spine replacing fragmented systems – The skills, talent, and culture to deploy AI tools with the same fluency as playbooks and scouting reports   The road to AI-based optimization won’t be clean. There will be bad models, governance clashes, and cultural pushbacks. But positive transformation never happens in straight lines. It requires bold experimentation. The difference now is that AI’s upside can be quantified in revenue growth, commercial yield and fan lifetime value.   As AI capabilities are adapted across the sports value chain, the industry’s ability to continue growing its overall value could accelerate dramatically.   #BigIdeas2026 – here on LinkedIn.

Manchester City Football Club's appointment of Paul Power as Head of AI is another signal of where elite football is heading. Clubs have invested heavily in data for years. What is changing now is how that data gets used. This role is not about collecting more information. It is about improving decision-making across the club. AI has the potential to impact multiple areas: • Recruitment, through faster and deeper player analysis • Performance, through better prediction and planning • Medical, through injury risk profiling and load management • Operations, through automation and efficiency The key point is integration. Data only creates value when it shapes decisions. Without clear application, it remains noise. Manchester City Football Club's model has always focused on marginal gains. This appointment shows a move towards scaling those gains through technology. It also raises a wider question for the game. Do clubs have the structure and leadership to make use of AI effectively? Hiring a Head of AI is one step. Aligning that function with recruitment, performance, and coaching is where the real advantage sits. Find out more about the appointment by following the link to Training Ground Guru's article in the comment section.

🚨 University of Arizona Football | Performance Systems Overview (2022–2023) During the 2022–2023 season, we had the opportunity to build out a truly integrated performance system at Arizona — blending objective monitoring, individualized training, and collaborative decision-making to support player development and availability. Here’s what that looked like behind the scenes: 🔧 System Components – Developed a centralized Athlete Management System (AMS) – Integrated force plate CMJs on GD-2 and GD+1 – Mapped GPS data to every drill in practice by volume, intensity, and density – Built a stoplight readiness model (Red/Yellow/Green) based on force, asymmetry, and wellness inputs – Weekly 1080 Sprint profiling to target individual acceleration deficits and monitor trends 📊 In-Season Monitoring Strategy – Combined neuromuscular data (jump height, RSImod, asymmetry) with GPS and workload trends – Used CV% and SD thresholds to flag meaningful fatigue changes – Adjusted pre-practice prep, lifting intensities, and recovery based on G+1/G-2 trends – Created individual and positional reports shared daily with performance and coaching staff 📈 Results – Logged 31 new top speed records – Saw a 35% reduction in soft tissue injuries with minimal hamstring-related time-loss – Aligned training with the competitive calendar: Winter → Spring → Camp → Season → Postseason – Worked closely with the Performance Director to manage daily decisions around practice structure and player availability 🎯 Takeaway What made the difference wasn’t any one piece of tech or protocol — it was the ability to tie together force diagnostics, GPS load, sprint data, and on-field context into a unified decision-making system. Building that bridge between data and action is where the real impact happens. #SportsScience #AthleteMonitoring #PerformanceAnalytics #SpeedDevelopment #InjuryPrevention #CollegeFootball #ForcePlates #GPS #1080Sprint #SpellmanPerformance #ArizonaFootball

A brand spends millions on an F1 sponsorship. Big announcement. Fancy press photos. And then? Silence. This is why most F1 sponsors fail. They make noise on Day 1 but by mid-season? No one remembers. It's just another logo in the background. The Forgettable Sponsor → Big splash, then disappears. → Thinks a logo & hospitality = a partnership. → No engagement with fans or business decision-makers. The Sponsors Who Get It Right ✅ McLaren Racing x Google → Google didn’t just put a Chrome logo on the car. They also provided cutting-edge AI and cloud computing tools to help McLaren process real-time race data, optimize performance, and improve pit stop efficiency. Their branding extended beyond the track, showcasing how Google’s ecosystem enhances speed and reliability—not just for F1 but also for businesses. ✅ Red Bull Racing & Red Bull Technology x Oracle → Oracle’s sponsorship goes beyond a logo—it’s deeply integrated into Red Bull’s race-winning strategy. Their cloud computing technology powers real-time analytics, helping Red Bull make faster strategic decisions on tyre management, pit stops, and race simulations. Oracle also created personalized fan engagement platforms using data to tailor content for different audiences, keeping them engaged beyond race weekends. ✅ Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team x WhatsApp → WhatsApp turned their F1 partnership into an inside look at team communications. They showcased real-time messages between engineers and drivers, highlighting how instant and secure communication is critical in high-pressure race environments. This wasn’t just a sponsorship—it was a storytelling strategy, giving fans exclusive access to how decisions are made within the team. 💡 The difference? Forgettable sponsors chase hype. Smart sponsors create impact. If your sponsorship disappears after the press release… what was the point? Who’s doing it right in F1? Drop your thoughts below. Video Graphic by Formula Addict (Efe Akçay)

Do you know what your audience think about your sport sponsorship? (Ever heard of sentiment analysis?) As a brand investing in motorsport, you can track how your audience react to your sponsorship. Not just in numbers, but in sentiment. What is sentiment analysis? It’s a method that uses AI and natural language processing to analyse public perception. Whether the sentiment on a brand/event/sponsorship is positive, neutral, or negative. In sponsorships, this is a game-changer. → It helps brands understand if their investment is truly engaging fans or if adjustments are needed. *** Take the recent ELEMIS x Aston Martin F1 sponsorship. When ELEMIS announced its sponsorship of Aston Martin F1, social media buzz reflected strong positive sentiment. Words like love, amazing, and ELEMIS stood out on IG. And terms like wow, duo, and dream team reinforced excitement around the collaboration. This is a word cloud: a visual tool in sentiment analysis where the size of each word reflects how often it appears. It helps brands quickly see which keywords dominate the conversation and determine whether audience sentiment is positive or negative. Why does this matter for brands? 1. To know exactly how fans feel about your sponsorship. 2. To spot negative trends before they escalate. 3. To create content that truly connects. 4. To measure ROI beyond visibility. *** Data-driven sponsorships + expertise win. Those who know how to strategise, listen, learn, and adapt turn partnerships into real business growth. P.S. Ever heard about sentiment analysis and word cloud?

𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬, 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞. 𝐀𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞. One of the biggest differentiators between good teams and consistently winning organisations is the quality of their medical and performance structure. The right medical framework doesn’t just “treat injuries”, it builds availability, resilience, and ultimately, a true competitive advantage. 𝐈𝐧 𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲. Here are key areas of medical structure that are often overlooked but crucial for gaining the competitive edge: 𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 & 𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 Medical, S&C, coaching, and performance analysis must operate under a shared philosophy. Silos kill performance. Integrated decision-making protects athletes while maximising output. 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 (𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐛) Monitoring training load, recovery markers, and fatigue trends helps prevent issues before they become injuries. Injury prevention is performance enhancement. 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧-𝐭𝐨-𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 Objective criteria, progressive exposure, and match-demand benchmarking reduce re-injury risk and ensure true readiness...not just clearance. 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 Daily reporting structures, transparent status updates, and clear accountability reduce guesswork and improve trust across departments. 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 Movement screening, injury history mapping, strength asymmetries, and performance baselines allow targeted interventions instead of generic programs. 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚-𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 GPS, force plate metrics, wellness scores, and medical records should guide strategy and not sit in spreadsheets unused. ⭐When medical structure is reactive, teams survive. When it’s strategic, teams win. ⭐The “competitive edge” isn’t one big innovation. It’s the accumulation of small, well-structured decisions made consistently. ⭐High performance is built on availability. Availability is built on structure. #HighPerformance #SportsMedicine #PerformanceTeam #Leadership #AthleteCare

📊 Max Speed Exposure Dashboard – built in the Fundamentals of Load Monitoring Course 📊 This visual is one of the key Power BI dashboards featured in our Fundamentals of Load Monitoring course—in collaboration with Jo Clubb for Sport Horizon UK - designed to help practitioners better understand and manage exposure to high-speed running. But beyond the dashboard… here’s a bit of real-life context 👇 When I was working as a sport scientist in elite football, this exact issue—exposure to max speed—was something we faced constantly: ⚽️ At QPR FC, at times we had players not hitting the required high-speed thresholds, especially those on the fringes or returning from injury. It was a challenge to balance rehab, rotation, and tactical work while ensuring the right physical stimulus. 🌍 At Kerala Blasters FC in India, it became even more complex. The climate, fixture congestion, and travel made it difficult to maintain consistent high-speed exposures. Monitoring was critical to managing fatigue, injury risk, and training load. 🟢 With the London Senior Gaelic football team, we faced a different issue—amateur athletes balancing jobs and travel with training. We had to be smarter with the limited time we had, using simple data tools to guide high-intensity exposures. 👴 And now—playing with the London Masters (Over-40s Gaelic football team)—I feel this challenge myself. We train less, we recover slower, and we’re still competitive. Even at this level, exposing the body safely to higher speeds is a real consideration! That’s why I believe dashboards like this one—tracking % of max speed and days since last high-speed effort—are so valuable. They help guide smarter, safer, and more effective decisions for athletes at every level. 📈 This dashboard is just one example from the course—bringing real-world monitoring issues to life through data and design. #Tableau #PowerBI #SportsAnalytics #DataVisualisation #SportHorizon #SportScience #BespokeInsights #PerformanceAnalysis #DataAnalytics #DataAnalysis #Football #Soccer #Excel #AthleteMonitoring #LoadMonitoring

This week's defining shift for me is that motion data is shifting from something systems measure to something they use to guide action. Instead of treating movement as a record to analyze after the fact, more platforms are turning perceptual motion data into live input for coaching, control, and interaction. This is not about better measurement. It is about using motion data to drive decisions and feedback in real time. This week’s news surfaced signals like these: ⛷️ U.S. Ski & Snowboard and Google Cloud are testing smartphone-based, markerless motion analysis to turn ordinary video into near real-time coaching guidance for elite athletes. 🤚 Meta and the University of Utah are studying how surface EMG can translate muscle signals into usable gesture control, including for people with limited hand mobility. Why this matters: This is the difference between watching a replay and having something help you in the moment. Instead of looking at motion after it happens, these systems are starting to use it while you’re still moving, to help decide what comes next. #physicalAI #perceptionsystems #motion #motioncapture #data #sports

F1 just had the biggest year of rule changes in the sport’s history. And it changed ALL the data! Most people saw it as a racing story, but Arthur Hu, Global CIO of Lenovo, told me it’s actually a data story. Here’s what I took away: ↳ More rule changes mean more data than ever. F1 completely overhauled its telemetry systems this year. The volume of data being captured is at an all-time high. The data has to keep pace with the complexity of the changes. ↳ Whoever adapts their data strategy fastest wins. When the rules change this dramatically, tactics, car setups, and race strategies change. ↳ F1’s data centers run on Lenovo Neptune liquid cooling. Keeping those systems cool isn’t just a performance decision; it’s an energy decision. Neptune significantly reduces F1's energy costs while keeping infrastructure reliable under pressure. ↳ Agnetic AI is now handling the complexity. A year ago, AI agents could only run for a few minutes on simple tasks. Today, they run for hours autonomously on complex, multi-step work. It’s the kind of analysis a F1 team needs in real time during a race weekend. The best enterprises operate like F1 teams. Fast experimentation, real-time data, and the discipline to act on what the numbers are telling you. FULL youtube interview here: https://lnkd.in/er_9MehM Which data job pays most: https://lnkd.in/evTHnh-M Data portfolio breakdown: https://lnkd.in/e6MrGpTy ♻️ Repost for your network and save for later!