Jays President Mark Shapiro Dishes on Future of Sports Tech in Ryerson Visit
Robot umpire? Don’t bet on it.
On Thursday, November 3, Toronto Blue Jays President and CEO, Mark Shapiro, paid Ryerson University a special visit to take part in a MBA speaker series. It’s part of a popular Ted Rogers MBA class taught by Professor Asher Alkoby and Distinguished Counsel in Residence, Ralph Lean. Since 2013, the class has attracted notable leaders from the politics, business and sports sphere to engage in a class Q/A discussion with Ryerson students.
Previous sports business speakers include the likes of Paul Beeston (former President & CEO of the Blue Jays), John Levy (CEO of theScore), Johan Koss (former Olympian Speed Skater; Founder of Right To Play) and Tim Leiweke (former CEO of MLSE).
Mark Shapiro was one of few remaining guest speakers for the semester. With the Jays 4–1 ALCS deficit to the Indians still reeling fresh in students’ mind, all sorts of questions awaited him.
EMBRACING SPORTS TECH
“What type of technology do you think the MLB will prioritize in the future?” asked one student.
Naturally, my ears perked up instantly.
Shapiro jumped straight to the answer —”[anything in the realm of] fan engagement and sports science. “
MLB wants to address the lack of attention span amongst young baseball fans, says Shapiro. Player data collection has become much easier over the years yet the ability to discern its relevance with respect to team performance remains a difficult task for most coaching teams. Fans today are fed with all sorts of game stats, which pleases the avid fanbase, but drives away the casual fans. As a consequence, this may influence them to associate baseball as a high-maintenance spectator sport.
One possible solution would be to enhance stat visualizations across all team broadcasts, says the Jays executive. The MLB should take a league-wide approach, where all teams communicate their games stats in simple terms in order to help on-board and retain novice fans.
“What do you think about robot umpires,” asked another MBA student.
“Robot umpires are not the solution [to call inaccuracies]; it will desensitize the game,” said Shapiro. “Don’t place your full trust in the TV strike box. They aren’t always accurate.” Automating the strike box has been a hot topic amongst the baseball community, as league officials have expressed interest in using a machine umpire in the near future.
Making the case for sports science, Shapiro underlines the importance of having modern coaching tools that help coaches and athletes prioritize rest and recovery in their training regimen. Knowing when to deploy these tools becomes a real skill when every team catches on to the technology, notes Shapiro. “The competitive edge for teams becomes slimmer every year.”
It’s important to note that the MLB is no stranger to sports tech. This past summer, the league made the landmark decision of allowing wearable gadgets to be used on the field. With the current CBA set to be renewed in 2017, player privacy and team use of information stored on the devices are key concerns, according to the MLB Players Association.
Other major leagues also share this concern, especially the NBA; a league where players and league officials (including former NBA Commissioner, David Stern) often boast about their latest sports tech ventures.
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THOUGHTS ON INDIANS LOGO
“Cleveland locals are desensitized to the Chief Wahoo logo,” said Shapiro. When he first joined the team as a junior employee in 1992, he was puzzled by it. The logo had a 96% approval rating amongst Indians fans at the time. Throughout his career, he stood uncomfortable with the logo but found it difficult to make an executive decision given the strong support from the fanbase. In 2009, the Indians began to slowly phase out the use of the controversial logo with the block letter “C” in their team merchandise. To date, the only visible presence of Chief Wahoo can be found on the left uniform sleeves of players.
In the summer of 2015, Shapiro joined the Jays, replacing Canadian sports executive and Ontario-native Paul Beeston as team President and CEO. After settling in Toronto, you would think the media questions Shapiro received about the Chief would naturally subside.
Well, that’s until playoffs happened.
Just one week before Cleveland would arrive in Toronto for Game 3 of the ALCS, a prominent indigenous activist sought an injunction against the team’s name and logo. “I was counting down the days,” Shapiro told the class. The case was heard — and rejected — merely hours before Game 3 thus allowing Cleveland to use the controversial name and logo.
WORK/LIFE BALANCE
“In order to best manage my career and family, I just don’t take up hobbies,” said the Jays executive. He describes himself as a very competitive person, and is fully committed to the Jays. He doesn’t commit to any speaking engagements although he made an exception for Ryerson.
While I can’t speak for the whole class, Shapiro’s talk left a lasting impression on me. Here’s someone who came under intense media scrutiny last season, following the departure of Alex Anthopoulos, making himself open to the floodgates of criticism to some of his most devoted Jays fans at Ryerson. He was extremely candid, sincere and didn’t shy away from the tough questions. Despite coming up short of the World Series this year, I have full faith in Shapiro’s ability to make our beloved Jays a serious contender in 2017.
