2011 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference

On Friday, March 4th and Saturday, March 5th, seventeen club members, alumni and faculty traveled to Boston to participate in the 5th annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. Held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, the conference has grown in size each year (read about our commentary from last year's conference here). A record 1,500 attendees saw interactive panels and research presentations, as well as some new features. The subjects of the panels ranged from "The Coming War: Sports Labor Relations" to "Athlete Branding in the New Age" to "Hockey Analytics." Panelists included ESPN Analyst and former NBA Coach Jeff Van Gundy, Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban, Author Malcolm Gladwell, ESPN Columnist Bill Simmons, NFL player Justin Tuck, and Houston Rockets General Manager (and conference co-chair) Daryl Morey, among others. Indianapolis Colts Head Coach Jim Caldwell and Denver Nuggets General Manager Masai Ujiri even attended as paying guests! The experience was truly rewarding and enjoyable for all; read about our personal highlights after the jump.

Christopher Anderson, Professor A&S – “My favorite quote from the conference was when Jeff Van Gundy said, 'To succeed, you can be one of three things: you can be soft, selfish, or stupid, but not two of three.” A key takeaway from several analytics panels at the conference was that communicating insights generated by data analysis/analytics is crucial. How you communicate with decision makers and players is as important as generating novel insights from analytics.”

Josh Bader, HUMEC '13 - "My favorite part of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytic Conference was being able to hear the honest and insightful opinions of the experts on the panels instead of seeing them answer obvious questions with typical, media-savvy responses. It really allowed the audience to get a strong understanding of just how highly intellectual and aware that all these people are with respect to every aspect of the sports world and their business."

Matt Beyer, ILR ’10, Former Co-President – “My favorite part of the conference was being able to meet with or catch up with some industry insiders. Either that, or the awkward part of the "Business of Sports" panel when Andrea Kramer started talking about how there aren't any women in the industry and the MLS President, Sunil Gulati, referred to himself as the ‘token Indian’.”

Robbie Cohen, ILR ’13, Vice President – “I enjoyed the live tweeting what our club did from our twitter feed. They had large screens in every room that displayed any tweets containing the trend #SSAC. It was great to be able to provide updates to those who could not attend, and interact with fellow guests through twitter (and also seeing our tweets up on the screen in front of everyone in attendance). Through this, we were able to increase our following and promote our club.”

Joshua Erenstein, CALS ’11 - “The willingness of Bill Simmons, as the common sports fans’ chief representative, for attending athletic events to remain ‘old-school’ as Mark Cuban countered with the point that innovations being made for game attendees will only increase was very entertaining to watch.”

CJ Fears, CALS '13 - "The Birth to Stardom panel was very intriguing. It was fascinating hearing the perspectives regarding an athlete's natural ability from a head coach (Van Gundy) and from a player (Tuck). In addition, it was great talking to Nuggets GM, Masai Ujiri, and hearing his opinion regarding their blockbuster trade with the New York Knicks."

Gabe Gershenfeld, ILR ’11, Co-President - "Delivering the first-ever Evolution of Sports Address was a great opportunity to share innovative ideas in a fun medium (read part of what I talked about here). I also enjoyed connecting with MIT SSAC organizers and student leaders from the Harvard Sports Analysis Collective, Brown Sports Business, Wharton Sports Business Initiative, and Columbia to learn how we can continue to build our own club and the Ivy Sports Business Network."

Reed Longo, CALS ’14 – “Speaking with Denver Nuggets' GM Masai Ujiri. Not only did I enjoy his insight on the Carmelo Anthony trade, since I am a Knicks fan, but, I also appreciated hearing about his rise from an unpaid international scout to working his way up to a front office executive in the NBA.”

Daniel Lowenthal, CALS '14 - "Personally, my event highlight was talking and interacting with Denver Nuggets General Manager Masai Ujiri. Speaking with him, talking about the status of his team; it was indescribable talking to a person in such a position, in such a relaxed way."

Jake Makar, A&S '13, Magazine Editor-in-Chief - "I thought it was great that club alumni advisor (and conference organizer) Rick Gold '06 arranged a lunch for us with Arizona Diamondbacks scout Joe Bohringer and The Extra 2% author Jonah Keri. It gave us the opportunity to have an interesting conversation and really spoke to the quality and positive atmosphere of the event."

Adam Schultz, ENG '12 - "The highlight of the trip for me definitely was playing pick-up basketball with Celtics Assistant GM Mike Zarren and ESPN's Henry Abbott on Sunday morning."

Justin Shapiro, CALS '13 - "Personally, being able to meet and talk to some of the smartest and most intellectual executives in the NBA was definitely a thrill. Many of these people came from similar backgrounds as myself, so hearing how they became involved in the business was really cool and exciting."

Joey Shampain, A&S '13, Secretary - "I was fascinated by all of the analytics companies that were at the conference. They used the conference as a medium to introduce and advertise their products. Cutting edge and innovative technologies were on display, such as the soccer networking technology (pictured here) that can provide insight into the way a team passes and moves on the field."

Matthew Spitz, CALS '11 - "The event was an unbelievable experience. I thought the first panel was phenomenal, listening to Jeff Van Gundy and Justin Tuck gave me a real grasp on how players and coaches view the industry. On another note, I thought Mark Cuban was the MVP of the conference. He just blew me away with his business acumen and it was very interesting to hear him breakdown how his management team evaluates players in the basketball analytics panel."

Jesse Stoopler, A&S '13 - "The highlight of the SSAC for me was attending the Basketball Analytics panel and hearing Mark Cuban, Kevin Pritchard, Marc Stein, John Hollinger, and Mike Zarren (a member of the Celtics front office). It was very interesting to see some of the smartest basketball minds discussing various NBA related topics."

Look through our club pictures on facebook or picasa. Also, check out official conference pics from Business Insider and MIT and coverage from Forbes, Time, and Deadspin, among others. Stay tuned for more analysis in our Spring 2011 Sports, Inc. magazine issue.