MLB Giants Leader In Digital Technology Used At Ballpark

The MLB Giants, a "pioneer in deploying technology in the stands since moving" into AT&T Park in '00, are being "closely watched by other professional sports teams as they move into the digital sports era," according to John Boudreau of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. The Giants indicated that AT&T Park is the "only baseball stadium that offers replay videos of plays, even controversial calls, via smart-phones." The Giants also have been "quietly testing out a new video system that analyzes every movement on the field." The $5M system, developed by Sportvision, "will be installed in all 30 major league stadiums as soon as next year." Giants Senior VP & CIO Bill Schlough said that "most, if not all, of the data will be used by the Giants to help the team gain a competitive advantage on the field and probably won't be shared with the public." Sportvision GM of Baseball Products Ryan Zander: "What they do with the data is how they will gain a competitive advantage." Meanwhile, Boudreau noted the average number of fans connecting to the Wi-Fi network at AT&T Park during each game has "jumped from 94 in 2004 to more than 1,600." Schlough: "Our competition is a day at the beach, a movie or even staying home and watching the game on a 64-inch screen." The Giants this year also "installed a Voice over Internet Protocol system from Santa Clara-based ShoreTel, which is saving the team about $1,000 a day" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 7/18).

BREAKING IN THE NEW MITT: In Pittsburgh, Pat Mitsch reported the Pirates are developing a new "player-information system that has the potential to make the Pirates' decision-making more cerebral" called "The MITT," which stands for "Managing, Information, Tools and Talent." Pirates Dir of Baseball Systems Development Dan Fox, the system's architect, said, "The task is to unify our player system to where you can drill down and see scouting reports, medical and contract information -- pretty much everything you can collect on a player -- search it quickly and have it support the decision-making." He said the team has "some level of information on about 85,000 players." Fox, who was hired in '08 and "began the task of building his system basically from scratch," indicated that eventually the system will provide "new-age statistical analysis and projections on each player." Mitsch noted other MLB teams use similar systems, including the Giants and Indians (Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 7/19).