DATA IN SPORTS
One of the industries that has benefited from the data revolution is Sports.
According to an article by Avaya, a company that delivers superior communications experiences, data analytics is now so important in sports; there are individual training programs focused on this particular field. It’s used to improve public attendance and event monitoring, boost experiences for customers, fine tune players, team playbooks, game plans, and even to kickstart sales and promotions. Just the sports analytics market alone is estimated to be worth $4.7 billion by 2021.
An article published by Kumba Sennaar, on Artificial Intelligence in Sports, gives a good summary on the current and future applications of AI. The author breaks down the revenue chain in sports, which is divided into 4 main segments:
- Gate revenues: Primary ticket sales from sporting events.
- Media rights: Fees paid by the media to broadcast sports on networks/stations.
- Sponsorship: Fees paid to have a brand associated with a team, league, facility or event, including naming and category rights.
- Merchandising: The sale of licensed products with team and league logos, player likenesses, and other intellectual property.
She also lists current applications of AI appear to fall into four major categories:
- Chatbots — Sports teams are using virtual assistants to respond to fan inquiries across a wide range of topics including live game information, team stats and arena logistics.
- Computer Vision (as it pertains to professional auto racing) — Researchers are training deep learning neural networks to achieve accuracy beyond humans in the ability to identify specific cars at high speeds which typically produce photographic images with reduced clarity.
- Automated journalism — Media outlets are leveraging AI-driven automation to expand their sports coverage capabilities and increase revenue.
- Wearable tech — Companies are using AI in conjunction with IoT devices to gather data to attempt to optimize training and performance.
In her well-researched article, she also explores major areas of current AI applications in professional sports.
The rise of sports betting in Kenya has also been fuelled by increased internet penetration and use of smartphones. In Kenya, some of the biggest beneficiaries of the data revolution in the sports industry is betting companies, so much so that the government has labelled betting a menace. As reported by the Business Daily, according to PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Kenya is the third largest gambling market after South Africa and Nigeria respectively in Africa in terms of revenues. However, in terms of participants, Kenya could be ahead of its peers in the region. Based on a 2017 Geopoll survey, About 54 percent of youth in Sub Saharan Africa have tried their hand at gambling.
Kenya also has the highest number of youth who have participated in gambling or betting in the past at 76% followed by Uganda at 57%. Ghana has the least number at 42%. 79% of bets placed in Kenya are on football games, making the country the leading in football betting. Majority of the bets are placed on English Premier League games, owing to its popularity in Kenya.
You can read this article on how to apply data science in betting.
The problem is that with the rise in betting, we have not seen the improvement in local infrastructure, team management and performance, among other factors. Our Sports industry is still facing a lot of setbacks.
Kenya is known for its long-distance runners. Any Kenyan in a foreign country is usually asked if they are a long distance runner because our Kenyan athletes have dominated the sport consistently. Kenyans have also competed internationally in sports like volleyball, javelin, swimming, motorsports and so much more. My hope is that we can amplify this spirit, and develop infrastructure for all areas in sports so that any capable Kenyan can use those resources to reach their full potential.
I am an avid basketball fan and I love the entertainment industry as well. One of the many things I would love to see in my country is a thriving sports and creative industry. I would love to see a gaming industry built around our local players and so much more. I hope I live to see it.
Resources you can find on Sports Analytics:
2.Current Application of AI in Sports
Companies and Organisations using data in sports
