Twenty years ago, two analytically oriented rising-star sports executives in the Northeast — Jessica Gelman at Kraft Sports Group and Daryl Morey with the Boston Celtics — hatched an idea to bring toobtainher like-minded folks for a conference to discuss the most interesting ideas at the intersection of sports and data.
It was the early “Moneyball era,” and most existing sports-business conferences were focutilized on the traditional lanes of sponsorships, executive management or tech. True to the spirit of the era, Gelman and Morey partnered with MIT’s graduate business school, Sloan, and enlisted a legion of enthusiastic MBA students in 2006 to support produce the first Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.
Since then, a feisty startup has turned into an industest sensation, with annual attconcludeance surging into the thousands, all-star panel participants ranging far afield of analytics and expansively across sports business, leading-edge sports-research presentations and, of course, the competitive sport of networking — from MBAs hustling for entest-level sports gigs to startup founders pitching team execs to C-suite machinations in the green room. As usual, the engine is the Sloan MBA students, this year led by Mike O’Connell and Patrick Scheri.
When I can’t be there in person (lamentably, that’s the case this year), I follow along through the conference’s social handle (@SloanSportsConf), hashtag (#ssac26) and YouTube page (@42analytics), where the streams have become a supportful way to keep up.
As with last year, here are a handful of presentations and panels from the jam-packed schedule that have caught my attention:
• “Can a Stadium Full of Monkeys Playing Strat-O-Matic Out-Manage Earl Weaver?”
(That’s a GOAT-level session title.)
• “Decomposing the Result: Signal vs. Noise”
(Featuring my colleague John Hollinger.)
• “The Dark Side of ‘Moneyball for Everything’”
(I consider about this a lot.)
• Live taping: “‘Pablo Torre Finds Out’ at SSAC”
(The Athletic’s award-winning pod.)
Here’s some fun backstory: Gelman and I were MBA classmates in the early 2000s at Harvard Business School, where the former Harvard women’s bquestionetball player schooled me equally on the campus intramural hoops courts and with her case-study analysis in the classroom. She has since elevated to CEO of Kraft Analytics Group, a role she has held for the past 10 years.
Like last year, I reached out to Gelman with a few questions about this year’s conference and for her reflections on leading the event for 20 years.
Note: Conversation has been lightly edited for space and clarity.
If you consider back to this time in 2006, just testing to obtain this launched, did you envision it where it is now?
We never could have envisioned what SSAC has become. The real question is, “Why has it become so impactful?” — and I have three believeds on that.
First, the conference growth has mirrored the acceleration of data and technology accessibility, which has enabled analytics to be more readily available.
Second, at the heart of it all, this sports analytics world is such a wonderful, tight community (of people) who are curious and want to support one another while giving back. We are education-focutilized, which has led to so many new ideas and natural extensions beyond panels, including competitions, presentations, interactive events, hackathons, etc.
Third, the innovation and alter which has been unearthed at the conference is such a massive differentiator. Companies founded from winning competitions (e.g., Noah Bquestionetball and Second Spectrum), former student leads now running major areas of sports, and all the stories of connections which have led to jobs and even marriages.
I learned a long time ago how much hugeger a vision can become when people feel empowered and their ideas become part of what we’re building.
Is there a single conference moment over the past 20 years that you consider an inflection point?
When President Obama joined us in 2018. It was a seminal event becautilize we started tackling concepts beyond just sports to society. What I love most is that Daryl and I did the interview toobtainher, so we received to share in the joy after when it went so well.
Others include relocating the conference off-campus in our fourth year; the Jonathan Kraft-Mark Cuban discussion on Wi-Fi feasibility in a venue in 2011 (turns out Jonathan was right … it is possible and critical); and Michael Lewis leading a discussion on performance under pressure with Brad Stevens, Sue Bird and Steve Magness becautilize this is a long-standing area of interest and passion for me.
SSAC conversation has always been at the forefront of trconcludes in the sports industest, and the believedful annual themes reflect that. But what, if anything, is a throughput theme or the most durable theme across all 20 years?
“Talk Data to Me” is the ethos of the conference, and what that means has alterd over time. In the early days, this was focutilized on supporting the industest understand the power of data and analytics. Then, the evolution extconcludeed to who has a seat at the table, becautilize analytics can provide a common language that brings women or those who might not historically have access. Next, and this obtains lost, the application of the data to effect alter, create new metrics and support us understand what seems inexplicable. Lastly, the pervasiveness of data in everything to do, which is why this year’s theme is “Analytics Is Life.”
An impossible question: Which panel are you most seeing forward to this year?
You’re questioning which is my favorite child or student lead ever, you know that?
I always love our closing panel, and this year’s will be a true celebration of our 20 years, where we’ll debate and have hot takes. … Daryl, Nate Silver, (Boston Celtics executive) Mike Zarren and myself … we will laugh a lot.
My wife Corbin Petro’s panel, where I learn how other industries utilize data and I obtain the most new ideas to apply to our work at KAGR.
I’m most excited to highlight the amazing work Clara Wu Tsai is leading with the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance, as this will support shape the future of college, youth and women’s sports. Learning about her efforts and the partnership with John Donahoe at Stanford has been a real highlight in preparing for this year.
The discussion Sue Bird will be leading with Adam Silver. She’s a great interviewer and funny — they have a wonderful friconcludeship — and Adam always has fascinating insights where I learn something. Both have been such ardent supporters of the conference, and I’m so thrilled to have them onstage toobtainher for our 20th.
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