The Dodgers and digital ad agency R/GA obviously expect to make money from their investments in tech startups that join their accelerator program. But in the meantime, they are looking for some day-to-day help, and the startups are eager to provide it. For instance: Swish Analytics, which has taken two rounds of venture financing from the Dodgers and R/GA, started out using advanced analytics to predict the outcome of future games and selling the research to gamblers and fantasy players. After graduating the accelerator, they are also trying to predict how the NL West playoff race will shake out, said company Founder & CEO Joseph Hagen during a panel at the '16 Intersport Brand Engagement Summit. “We might not know that information right now just with the granular data, but we can take many different outlooks and provide them a more informative look at what the standings will be at a future date, and therefore influence dynamic pricing,” he said. The implications could touch ticket pricing, merchandise, concessions, sponsorships and more, if the Dodgers are better able to anticipate the competitive landscape and demand in the fall.
THE NEXT CLASS: Founded in '15, the accelerator program offered $20,000 in exchange for a 6% equity stake in each of 10 companies last year, along with three months’ worth of office space and access to high-end mentors in sports and tech development. The second accelerator class, due to be announced in July, will target a smaller group of five to seven companies, instead of 10, said Dodgers CFO Tucker Kain. The work will continue to focus largely on fan engagement, added R/GA Global COO Stephen Plumlee, and finding ways to use mobile devices to build closer fan ties. “Why would fan engagement be limited to either a venue, or a specific game or an event?” Plumlee asked. "It should be thought of as a full ecosystem.” Most of the startups’ ultimate payoff is still years away as it works to build sustainable revenue models and find customers. But Kain said there is real value being created now. “Solving a problem at the Dodgers that I have, whether it’s point of sale or fan engagement, there’s economic value to that, to me, so I think that comes with this process,” Kain said. “This investment helps us solve these problems ... so it’s a multi-faceted ROI."
