Machine Learning, AR, VR, and the Future of Sports Posted on : Nov 20 - 2017

Machine learning, augmented reality, and virtual reality and their roles within the sports environment was at the core of day two of the Sports Business Journal’s 2017 Neulion Sports Media & Technology Conference. And one thing is clear: while it is still early days for each of the technologies and hasty opinions can be made of success or failure there is no denying that the efforts are being made to transform the sports media landscape.

Everything from coaching to TV and Internet distribution, was the focus of a discussion with Rajiv Maheswaran, Second Spectrum, CEO at the Sport Business Journal Media& Technology Conference. Second Spectrum discussed an ongoing development that will impact arguably the entire sports content creation and distribution marketplace: machine learning.

Second Spectrum came to the fore in 2013 working with four NBA teams and now is being used league wide. And even old-school coaches and teams steeped in tradition are adopting technology as it can often be a difference maker on and off the court.

Second Spectrum entered the market when it looked to take raw data related to player and ball movement on the court and then add a layer of analysis and predictive statistics that can help transform the understanding of the game.

Maheswaran points to something as simple as identifying every pick and roll in a game and then offering a deeper dive into the results of the play, the matchups that worked (and didn’t), and more.

 “Before machines identifying pick and rolls was done by people who would watch the games but they would only catch about 20% of them and they would only be correct in identifying a pick and roll properly 80% of the time so they were missing tons of them,” he says. “And then media partners like ESPN would be doing the same thing.”

An important part of getting by in for new technologies is working with the coaches and helping them understand how data points fit into the rest of their ecosystem. Once the coaches are on board then media partners start to make use of it and then, eventually, fans will be able to sort through data that interests them. View More