by Producer Sean O'Brien
I spent this past weekend in Boston, MA. Daryl Morey (GM of the Houston Rockets) asked me to speak on a panel at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. I was on a panel with Brian Burke (President and GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs), Mark Donovan (SVP of Business Operations, Philadelphia Eagles), Jeff Van Gundy (ESPN Analyst and former NBA Head Coach) and Bill Simmons (ESPN Columnist – The Sports Guy). Some serious heavy hitters (besides me)…our panel discussed the Evolution of the Fan Experience looking at how new technology, stadium design, game innovations, and customer initiatives are taking the fan experience to the next level. I really enjoyed the experience and spent the rest of the day observing the different panels that touched on a number of interesting topics within sports business as well as sports analytics.
I spent most of time explaining our game design goals and how we’re attempting to engage our consumer throughout the entire season using Dynamic DNA daily updates which change the way that NBA LIVE is played based on real life tendencies and data. I spoke with a number of people after the panel was over that had no idea that we were offering this service and were blown away by the concept.
Donovan, Van Gundy, Simmons, O'Brien, Burke, Morey
I went to the Cavs/Celtics game on Friday night. I’ve been a Celtics fan since I’ve been a kid and hadn’t been to TD Banknorth yet…what a great atmosphere. It obviously helped to have LeBron and Cleveland there and the top two teams in the east…it felt like a playoff game. The amount of tradition and nostalgia that was included in all of the game day presentation was amazing. A lot of imagery and video of former Celtic greats were shown on the jumbotron pre game which helped get the crowd fired up and ready for the tip.
All in all it was a great weekend. Very cool to see that game on Friday night and a fantastic opportunity to be a part of the conference on Saturday. It was a great chance to once again see the interest and curiosity in the EA SPORTS brand and the opportunities that exist for us to help pioneer in the area of analytics in the sport of basketball.