Menu
Colleges

Pac-12 schools get help with analytics

The pursuit of deeper, richer fan analytics has sent college athletic departments on a search for the best technology partner, often at a significant cost. The Pac-12, which has earned a reputation for looking at things differently, figures that the best technology experts already work in its San Francisco office.

So the conference has created its own fan analytics tool — tested over the past year — that will roll out to the entire conference by 2017-18.

The Pac-12’s presidents and chancellors voted last week to fund the project with conference revenue. The conference did not reveal its startup costs.

“The conference is providing the technical expertise that we didn’t know how to utilize on our own,” said Southern California’s Tim Martin, a senior associate athletic director who has worked with the Pac-12 on the pilot program. “The conference understands our day-to-day business and they’ve already got the expertise. We could go out and do this on our own, but it would cost us a lot more money.”

The need for fan analytics has grown white-hot at the highest levels of college athletics as many schools battle declining attendance in football and basketball. Like many businesses, ranging from online retailers to hotels or casinos, athletic departments need to know more about their customers.

They have gobs of information on fan habits, merchandise and ticket purchases, donations and online viewing habits. But it tends to be scattered across campus or tucked away in databases controlled by third-party rights holders. Athletic departments need it organized and analyzed.

Many schools have outsourced that chore to technology firms like SSB, Circle Media or the new joint venture between Robert Kraft’s KAGR and Learfield. These services can approach six figures in fees, depending on the arrangement. Southern Cal and Arizona State from the Pac-12 were no exception two years ago, working with SSB to create one consolidated data warehouse for all of their fan information.

But the more the conference explored the issue, it became clear that its own media company, Pac-12 Networks, already had this expertise in-house with its own software developers and analysts.

The troubled linear TV networks, which have battled distribution woes since their launch in 2012 and have failed to produce the promised revenue, are part of a larger media business that includes digital, technology and sales operations for the conference. Why not put it to use for the schools in other innovative ways so they don’t have to go searching for it in a third party?

“We heard the need from the schools,” said Danette Leighton, the Pac-12’s chief marketer. “Our job is to find ways to solve problems. We own a media company.”

Leighton began working with Mark Kramer, head of technology for the Pac-12 Networks, to develop a plan to put fan analytics into use at every school. Internally, they call it the Pac-12 Fan Engagement program.

It wasn’t easy. Some of the 12 schools had already begun an analytics program. Others were starting from scratch. Some have as few as 17 sports. Others have up to 36.

Leighton and Kramer started by making USC, Arizona State and Stanford the guinea pigs. They were part of a pilot program that would help the conference understand how to construct a fan analytics program.

“We told them that we need to go to one place that gives us a holistic view of the fan,” said Rocky Harris, a senior associate AD at Arizona State. “And we need the business intelligence to guide our decisions.”

The conference will begin rolling out the analytics program this fall with six schools, then add the rest during the 2017-18 academic year, unless a school decides not to participate. The Pac-12 is determining the criteria for the first six schools.

The piecemeal approach over two years will give Kramer’s technology department more time to add staff and prepare.

Kramer’s team will work with each school to develop a unique set of objectives, and then go about finding the best software products to provide a solution. A range of vendors will be used. The conference will cover the costs, and schools will not be required to write a check for the service. Additionally, the schools will own and control all of the data.

The Pac-12 will add two positions this year for business intelligence experts, who will be hired full time and will collaborate with schools to analyze data and recommend a course of action. The conference will work with schools to study fan demographics and create more effective marketing plans.

For example, schools want to send more targeted emails and sales material to its fans. There’s typically little reason to send everyone, married or single, on the email list an offer for a family four-pack of tickets to a game, but that’s often what happens with broad email blasts.

“Understanding all of the information you have available can be overwhelming,” said Leighton, a former NBA executive who likened the Pac-12’s sharing of best practices to the NBA’s team management and business operations program. “Pac-12 Networks has the expertise to help schools be nimble and make that data actionable. We will work with the schools to use the analytics tool, analyze the data and recommend a plan. And it’s all customizable for the school.”

ASU’s Harris added: “We don’t have the infrastructure or know-how to do this alone. So this is a no-brainer for us. The conference has the experts to stay on top of trends and advancements, and we can look a lot smarter.”

The Pac-12, under Commissioner Larry Scott’s administration, has created lines of business that provide a service to the schools before. Pac-12 Sales was founded to work with schools on ticket sales. Pac-12 MMR was built to help schools keep their multimedia rights in-house rather than outsourcing to a third party.

And now the conference has moved into analytics in a way that potentially could help schools know more about their customers without writing a check to a technology firm.

“For the conference to commit internal resources to this is great,” USC’s Martin said. “Whenever I talk to my counterparts at other schools, this is one common problem we all want solved.”

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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/Journal/Issues/2016/05/30/Colleges/Pac12-analytics.aspx

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

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2016/05/30/Colleges/Pac12-analytics.aspx

CLOSE