Key insights from the #FCBSportsTech Symposium in Barcelona (Day 1)

I had the pleasure to attend the 3rd Sports Technology Symposium in Barcelona, which is organized by Raúl Peláez and his team from the Barca Innovation Hub. It was taking place at the Auditorium right next to the world famous Camp Nou stadium, which is going to be transformed into the “New Camp Nou” in the upcoming years. Ramón Jesús González from FC Barcelona showed us the amazing plans in one of the talks. More information about the stadium project can be found here.

Topics & Insights

The content on Day 1 was presented in 5 different topic sections.

• Smart Stadiums
• The Game
• Talent ID
• Data Driven Strategies
• Training

In this article I will present you my (subjective) key insights for every one of those sections.

Topic 1: Smart Stadiums

The panel consisted of Kyle Eichman (Sacramento Kings), John McKay (New York Mets), Francois David (Olympique Lyonnais) and Pilar Consesa (Smart City Expo World Congress).

I was very impressed by the insights about the Stadium of the Sacramento Kings. Their vision was to build the first Coliseum of the 21st century. It is based on four pillars:

Some things that stuck to me

• The use the air streams from the Bay Area to cool the stadium
• Wired thinks that the stadium is “basically a giant Tesla”
• 30–35% of the fans use the app in and around the stadium
• They were able to increase the number of “early arrival” fans by 10%

Insights from the other speakers

• Drones are an emerging security threat to outdoor stadiums
• You need a connected stadium for connected fans
• Stadiums work like cities and need an integrated an holistic vision

Topic 2: The Game

The panel consisted of Gareth Griffith (SBG), Stuart Metcalf (Tottenham Hotspur FC) and Nicolas Evans (FIFA).

I really liked the overview which Stuart Metcalf gave about Tottenham Hotspur FC is analyzing football games. He spoke about uses for tracking data within a club, gave examples of event data and tracking data, showed challenges to implementing data and future developments. I’d like to highlight the challenges and potential solutions which he mentioned.

Some things that stuck to me

• Using event data plus tracking data can give you a lot more information about match situations
• In the future we can expect increased accuracy, improvements in ball tracking, tracking data which is shared across leagues and we’ll add tracking data to expected goals models

Insights from the other speakers

• It can be very satisfying if an undercut attack works in Formula 1 :) Very impressive to see the mathematical models and amount of data used during a race
• The FIFA is aiming to leverage technological advances to improve the quality of the football experience

Topic 3: Talent ID

The panel consisted of David Fombella (Sevilla FC), David Martin (Philadelphia 76ers) and Daniel Stenz (Shandong Luneng Taishan FC).

I very much enjoyed David Martin’s talk about how the Philadelphia 76ers are developing talents with the help of scientific insights and models. Here are the observations he shared.

Some things that stuck to me

• You can go from starting a sport to an olympic medal in 14 month
• Don’t tell an athlete that he/she is a talent, say that he/she has potential
• Sport is emotional, connecting is essential

Insights from the other speakers

• Sevilla FC collects 3.5 million data point per match
• An injured player is the most expensive player
• You have to understand raw data and the definition of it

Topic 4: Data Driven Strategies

The panel consisted of Chris Brummett (Chicago Cubs), TJ Ansley (Portland Trail Blazers), Andrea Mazzanti (Ferrari) and Ramón Jesús González (FC Barcelona).

I liked TJ Ansley’s talk about the social media focused “We are collecting as much data as we can” approach of the Portland Trail Blazers. The goal is to get the best insights about their fans and to use it for real time personalized marketing.

Some things that stuck to me

• You want to create a highly relevant website experience based on behavior, location, profile and other attributes
• Unify your data sources and understand the fan interest

Insights from the other speakers

• We have a “Digital Body Language” which companies want to analyse
• FC Barcelona will get an amazing new stadium :)

Topic 5: Training

The panel consisted of Vosse de Boode (AFC Ajax), Antonio Gómez (FC Barcelona) and Timmo Hardung (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim).

It was a great opportunity to get insights from Antonio about the training methods of FC Barcelona. They are applying technology (when useful) to optimize the strength training.

Some things that stuck to me

• In team sports an action is never repeated in the same way
• Practical application is possible in different training areas and different sports

Insights from the other speakers

• Combining data sources for a bigger picture “gives the experts eye a hand”
• Hoffenheim is using a broad range of tech solutions in training and beyond, e.g. Footbonaut, Helix or a giant screen on the training field

It was a great first day at #FCBSportsTech in Barcelona, I’m looking forward to the second one (find the insights from Day 2 here).

Benjamin Penkert is the Founder of SportsTechX and Head of Consulting at the leAD Sports Accelerator in Berlin. You can get in touch via Linkedin, Twitter or mail.

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