When Jessica Gelman teamed with Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey to launch the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in 2007, little did she know it would be the foundation of KAGR, the new division of Kraft Sports Group.
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Gelman and Daryl Morey’s MIT Sloan conference has grown since its start in 2007.
Photos by: COURTESY OF THE MIT SLOAN SPORTS ANALYTICS CONFERENCE
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The event’s first year saw 175 attendees. This year, for its 10th annual event, the conference had 175 speakers.
The event has grown to nearly 4,000 attendees, with 130 teams and leagues, 320 colleges and 32 countries represented for this year’s edition, March 11-12 in Boston.
“The conference is symbolic of the demand we’re seeing in analytics,” Gelman said. “And the Krafts are incredibly entrepreneurial, and they saw that growth. So I’m very excited.”
The event has broadened its platform, as well. There’s a strong focus on research and data, but there are also competitive-advantage discussions and, in the last two years, a hackathon competition seeking new ideas and developments. (The theme of this year’s hackathon was football data visualization.)
Gelman in 2012 was featured in SportsBusiness Journal’s Game Changers: Women in Sports Business program. In 2014, she was a SportsBusiness Journal Forty Under 40 honoree.
“She has done so much to grow and adapt to the business,” said Robert Kraft, Kraft Sports Group chief executive.
Jonathan Kraft, president of Kraft Sports Group, also credits Gelman’s work in building the conference in establishing the new KAGR operation.
“Jessica was really the leader in this industry, and the Sloan analytics conference proves this out,” he said. “She brought a cutting edge of thinking, and we have real examples in our business where this analysis has benefited our bottom line and our engagement of our fan base that stretches well beyond New England.”
— Abraham D. Madkour
