I read an article recently that simultaneously highlighted the power of data analytics in the world of sports and the need to make insights far more accessible.
The article comes from our friends at the Scouted Notebook, and it’s a nerdy deep dive into the story around how Aston Villa Football Club found an “uncut gem” in the acquisition of Jhon Durán – and how other teams can do the same.
The article delves into the complex backstory of Durán’s journey from South America to English Premier League soccer. It charts niche stats, resale figures, and industry politics and covers the myriad factors that go into determining the success or failure of a given player on a given team at a given point in time.
And it takes 4,000 words to get to the point.
This is NOT a knock on writing style or storytelling. On the contrary, I read the article 4 times! Rather, the article perfectly encapsulates the issue sports executives face every day: In the post-”Moneyball” era of sports, how can owners and general managers make smart, profitable, data-driven decisions – in a matter of seconds?
What if we could make “uncut gems” not so hard to find after all?
This is the problem I sought to solve when I launched Gemini Sports.
We had to start by understanding the issues at the root of the problem. First, superior decision-making requires massive amounts of information, and combining all the relevant information – scouting reports, event and tracking data from third-party providers, financial factors, game model, etc. – in one place is not easy. As a result, stakeholders lack a complete picture of all the factors at play, often stringing together different elements on whiteboards, rough dashboards, or Excel sheets.
The second issue lies in the limitations of human capital. Data analysts are highly skilled (and highly compensated), and yet they are just humans and often under-resourced, rate-limiting the ability of their technical directors to act quickly enough.
Lastly, these directors and GMs lack access to key insights in formats that they work in each day. These decision-makers don’t have time for a 4,000-word article, a 20-page report, or even a desktop dashboard. They need information in the palm of their hands, and they need it now.
Our team at Gemini Sports operates from a core belief that Squad Planners should be able to access the key insights that drive their multimillion-dollar decisions wherever they are, on their own. To make that vision a reality, we first centralized all the data they are already paying for. Second, we built an advanced metrical layer that is highly configured to each team’s unique playing style and organizational needs. Finally, we made all of the resulting insights accessible via a mobile application that is as easy to use as Spotify.
Let me know if you want to give us a try.
