Menu
International Football

Premier League Embracing Data Firms To Scout Talent, Avoid Relegation

The Premier League "has a new breed of observer: sophisticated data firms that meticulously track every movement, using statistics to discover the best way to win," according to THE ECONOMIST. Since the team-sheet "can mean the difference between glory and insolvency," clubs employ talent spotters "who travel the globe to find the right players at the best price." Until recently, their intelligence gathering "was pretty old-fashioned." Scouts "would spend hours watching matches in the lower leagues in the rain." Now, however, companies such as Opta and Prozone "collect reams of helpful data, selling them to the clubs and media for a fee." Pitch-side analysts log every tackle, pass and goal, typically collecting information on 2,000 or so "events" per match. Above the stadium, "arrays of cameras track players’ movements, logging their distance, speed and acceleration." Still, computers "are not about to oust scouts entirely." Opta analyst Sam Green points out that human observers "take into account contextual details that computers don’t." Untangling skill and context "is something a computer cannot yet do" (THE ECONOMIST, 8/17).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2013/08/19/International-Football/EPL-Data.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2013/08/19/International-Football/EPL-Data.aspx

CLOSE