Sports Analytics and Big Data
Sports Analytics and Big Data I am a huge fan of fantasy sports and sports analytics so when I hear of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference I immediately delve into their history of speakers. This conference hosts numerous panels spanning several sports and facets of sports as well as the evolution of sport and research papers. One panel that I found most interesting was the fantasy sports analytics panel. This panel featured Peter Schoenke, Jonah Keri, Joe Bryant, and the man with my dream job Matthew Berry. Each of these guys expertise is in fantasy sports. A common theme throughout their session was finding the "new stat" to get a leg up on your competitors. Matthew Berry, fantasy expert for ESPN, mentioned a "Points Per Touch" statistic for each NFL player. Fortunately for Berry he has the ESPN statistics department at his disposal. This is an interesting approach to look at. Sports statistics are easily attainable and span back many seasons. NFL.com, yahoo...