The MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference goal is to provide a forum to discuss the increasing role of analytics in the sports industry. Founded in 2006, the conference is co-chaired by Daryl Morey (General Manager & Managing Director of Basketball Operations for the Houston Rockets) and Jessica Gelman (Vice President of Customer Marketing & Strategy for the Kraft Sports Group) who oversee MIT Sloan students (from the EMS Club)[nb 1] in the planning and operating of the yearly conference. It is open to anyone interested in sports and has been attended by students from over 150 different schools and representatives from over 50 professional sports teams in the MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, MLS, and EPL.[1] The conference is held in the Boston area and while its location has moved from the MIT campus to higher capacity convention centers, it has always occurred during February or March. One of the largest student run conferences in the country, it has been sold out every year and has become the premier venue for sports analytics discussion. ESPN has been the presenting sponsor since 2010 and the conference has garnered national attention through media outlets such as Sports Illustrated, BusinessWeek, NBC Sports, Fox Sports, ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption, and Forbes. ESPN columnist Bill Simmons has nicknamed the conference Dorkapalooza.[2]
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The 6th annual conference will be held from March 2 - 3, 2012 at the Hynes Convention Center located in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston. The two-day event will feature many new and returning panelists and has already secured the appearance of NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, Bill James, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, sports agent Scott Boras, NBA Deputy Commissioner & COO Adam Silver, ESPN commentator Michael Wilbon, and Bill Simmons.[3]
The inaugural conference was held on February 10, 2007 at the Ray and Maria Stata Center on the MIT campus and had 175 attendees. Nine different panel topics were showcased including baseball analytics featuring Bill James, basketball analytics, fan management, and sports technology.[4] The conference was highlighted by keynote speakers J.P. Ricciardi, then-Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations and General Manager of the Toronto Blue Jays and Jamie McCourt, then-CEO of the Los Angeles Dodger.[5]
The conference was held on February 9, 2008 at the Stata Center once again. The 350 guests in attendance heard a keynote speech by Boston Celtics CEO and co-owner Wycliffe Grousbeck.[6] Among the eleven panels offered during the day, the most popular was Defending the Title, which included decision-makers from the then reigning champions of the four major sports leagues; Bill Polian (President, Indianapolis Colts), RC Buford (General Manager, San Antonio Spurs), Brian Burke (Then General Manager, Anaheim Ducks), and Jed Hoyer (Then Assistant General Manager, Boston Red Sox).[7]
The conference was held on March 7, 2009 at the Stata Center for the final time and was the first to use a featured panel format. Before an audience of 550 the panel, Value of Icon Players, highlighted by Boston Celtics all-star guard Ray Allen discussed how to quantify the contribution made by star players to a team or city.[8] The other featured panel, Evolution of the Fan Experience, looked at how new technology, stadium design, game innovations, and customer initiatives impact fan experience. It was moderated by Bill Simmons and included ESPN commentator Jeff Van Gundy and Brian Burke.[9]
The conference was held on March 6, 2010 and with over 1,000 attendees, it nearly doubled the gallery from the previous year. As a result, the conference was moved off-campus to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in South Boston to accommodate the growing interest. The conference was headlined by a panel that addressed the limits of statistical analysis entitled What Geeks Don't Get: The Limits of Moneyball and was moderated by author Michael Lewis and featured Bill Polian, Jonathan Kraft, Mark Cuban and Bill Simmons.[10] One specific situation discussed was the November 15, 2009 game between the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts in which the Patriots, up 34-28 with the ball on their own 28 yard line, decided to go for it on 4th & 2 rather than punt.[11] Among the other popular panels were Coaching Analytics with New Jersey Nets Head Coach Avery Johnson and Baltimore Orioles Manager Buck Showalter and Next Generation Sports Management and Ownership with Boston Celtics Owner Steve Pagliuca and Tampa Bay Rays President Matt Silverman.[12]
A research paper track was introduced in which individuals could submit original analysis that offers a new perspective on anything from evaluating players and game strategies, to examining the success factors for sports business. The research paper track has continued to be an integral part of future conferences. Submissions are evaluated by the organizing committee and, if selected, authors make a 45-minutue presentation to vie for a $7,500 prize. The 2010 winner, Joe Sill, presented Improved NBA Adjusted +/- Using Regularization and Out-of-Sample Testing which analyzed the traditional way adjusted plus/minus is evaluated and offered a technique to improve its accuracy.[13]
The conference was held from March 4 - 5, 2011 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center once again. The conference expanded to a two-day format for the first time, running from early Friday morning until late Saturday afternoon. It was attended by over 1,500 guests and had a waitlist of 300. The first panel of the conference was headlined by Malcolm Gladwell and featured a dialog about whether modern athletes' skills are innate or developed through extensive training.[14][15] For the remainder of the conference, each time-slot had 3 panels running simultaneously and covered the standard topics of Baseball, Basketball, and Football analytics along with a range of new content. Some of the more popular new panels included The Decision: How Players and Teams Will Choose in the Future with retired basketball player Donny Marshall, CEO and Founder of Priority Sports & Entertainment Mark Bartelsteain, R.C. Buford, Brian Burke, and Michael Wilbon,[16] Referee Analytics with longtime NFL official Mike Carey,[17] and The Future of the Game Day Experience: HDTV vs. Live Events anchored by Co-founder and Chairman of HDNet Mark Cuban.[18][19] The research paper track was expanded and showcased the work of nineteen authors. The winner, Arup Sen, presented The Moral Hazard in Long‐Term Guaranteed Contracts: Theory and Evidence from the NBA which analyzed the effect the final year of a contract has on player performance.
"I was walking to pick up my poster on my way out of the conference and found someone reading it. On closer inspection, I realized that it was Mark Cuban."[20]—Arup Sen
Additionally, the 2011 conference added several new facets to the traditional panel discussions. These events include the Evolution of Sport (EOS) presentations, the First Pitch MBA Sports Business Case Competition, and a trade show that offers sports-industry startups the ability to demonstrate products or services and connect with potential customers or business partners.[21]
Similar in scope to TED talks, these presentations offer individuals a chance to present a message, idea or thought that could someday change the face of sport. The 2011 conference featured 14 speakers who were each given roughly 20 minutes to address the audience. Two of the most popular presentations were by Mark Sweeney, founder of AimPoint Technologies, who presented Accelerated Skill Acquisition in Putting and by Henry Abbott, senior writer at ESPN, who presented Bad Decisions in Sports Skew Macho.[22] Some of the others topics include; The Importance of Being Open: What Optical Tracking Data Can Say About NBA Field Goal Shooting, The Foundation of Elite Sports Analytics: Three Secrets You Must Know, and Better Off Guessing? Measuring the Quality of Draft Decisions. The talks have since become some of the most downloaded content on the conference website.[23]
The case competition presents teams with a current sports business situation and asks students to analyze the situation and present a recommendation. The initial competition was sponsored by AECOM and featured 15 teams from top MBA programs including; MIT Sloan School of Management, Harvard Business School, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, University of Virginia Darden School of Business, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, and Yale School of Management. The MIT Sloan School of Management team was the winner of the inaugural competition.[24]