SSAC MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference

Dominic Moore - NHL Analyst on ESPN, Former NHL Player
Namita Nandakumar - Senior Quantitative Analyst, Seattle Kraken
Meghan Chayka - Co-Founder/CEO of Stathletes
Brant Berglund - Senior Director of Coaching & GM Applications, NHL


Greg Wyshynski (moderator) - Senior NHL Writer, ESPN







 



It may not have been obvious to those watching NHL opening night, but there were more cameras than ever pointed towards the ice. And they weren’t from your local newspaper. Over the offseason, the NHL implemented and outfitted each area with cameras that could track player and puck movement to the millisecond. With this move, the NHL fully ignited a race to find key, meaningful insights like it never had before. With the amount of data available to teams at an all-time high, and as the number of analytical GMs continues to rise, this panel brings together team analysts, analytics experts, and league executives in order to explore the current state of hockey analytics, how puck tracking has already started to shape decisions, and what it will mean even further down the road.

Bill James - Former Senior Baseball Operations Advisor Boston Red Sox


Doug Fearing - Co-founder and President, Zelus Analytics




Cole Figueroa - Director of Baseball Operations, Tampa Bay Rays


Nate Silver (moderator) - Statistician, Author and Founder FiveThirtyEight





 



It’s been 45 years since Bill James started publishing the quintessential Baseball Abstract series in 1977. In that time, the use of data has transformed the game of baseball. Yet, despite how long analytics have been a part of baseball, there are always new questions that data can help answer. How will the new, supposedly less live baseball impact lineup construction? How will it impact swing style? With the introduction of robot umps, what will be the impact for catchers who are great at pitch-framing? This panel brings together baseball analytics experts, including the legendary founder of Moneyball Bill James, to discuss the current state of the game.

Sarah Mallepalle - Player Personnel Analyst, Baltimore Ravens



Kevin Demoff - Chief Operating Officer, Los Angeles Rams




Mitch Schwartz - Former Offensive Tackle, Kansas City Chiefs




Brian Burke - Senior Analytics Specialist, ESPN


Kevin Clark (moderator) - Staff Writer, The Ringer

Although NFL executives may have been slower to embrace the analytics movement than their counterparts in MLB and NBA, 2021 marked the first year that every team in the league had a dedicated analytics staffer and was capped with the first GM hire from a true analytics background in Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. With every passing year, there are cutting-edge statistics being developed: Completion Percentage Over Expectation, Pass and Run Block Win Rate, among others. Join former All-Pro lineman Mitchell Schwartz, LA Rams COO Kevin Demoff, Ravens analyst Sarah Mallepalle and ESPN analytics expert Brian Burke to explore the different ways NFL teams are using analytics from roster-building to playcaling, with a special emphasis on what has for a long time been very tough to quantify: line play.

Allison Feaster - VP of Player Development & Organizational Growth, Boston Celtics 

Haralabos Voulgaris - Former Director of Quantitative Research and Development, Dallas Mavericks 

Katherine Evans - VP of Research and Information Systems, Monumental Sports & Entertainment 

Kirk Goldsberry - NBA Analyst, ESPN

Kevin Arnovitz (moderator) - NBA Writer, ESPN.com 

The NBA analytics revolution has happened: big men are shooting more three-pointers, mid-range shots have declined, and small ball lineups have seen their heyday. Now, the pace of change is slower; in fact, the number of made three-pointers and number of free-throws per game has actually declined this year. How is analytics movement evolving and why? This panel brings together high-profile figures in the basketball analytics community to discuss what further insights can be derived from the ever-increasing amounts of data available to teams.

Ross Tucker - Sports Scientist

Katie Barnes - Feature Writer, ESPN

Joanna Harper - PhD, Loughborough University

Malcolm Gladwell (moderator) - Author

 

Data brings important insights to better ground discussions, especially the conversation of transgender athletes. Transgender athletes are increasingly competing at the highest levels, raising the need for data to define fair play. More nuanced discussions around regulation, legislation, and overall competition are becoming commonplace. Recently, the IOC released new guidelines on Olympic participation and US states have shifted their policy under the Biden Administration further resurfacing tough conversations. Access to sports is vital for key learnings: experiencing a team, the empowerment one feels in times of triumph, and the lessons we learn in times of failure. Join Malcolm Gladwell as he leads a conversation on the path forward for the inclusion of transgender athletes in sports.

Miguel Cardona - U.S. Secretary of Education

Maura Healey - Massachusetts Attorney General

Laurie Hernandez - American Artistic Gymnast

Sue Bird - Point Guard, Seattle Storm

Shira Springer (moderator) - Journalist and Lecturer, Boston University & MIT Sloan 

Sports inspire us to fight harder, train longer, and continuously strive to be the best. The lessons learned through sport are often the foundation for success later in life. Since Title IX passed in 1972, women have increasingly gained traction in leadership positions across the United States. As a law rooted in equal opportunity and prohibiting discrimination based on sex, Title IX has changed the landscape in sports and across industries. Yet, the fight for equality in sports is not over and battles continue over the law. Hear from government and policy leaders Miguel Cardona and Maura Healy alongside professional athletes Sue Bird and Laurie Hernandez on the impact to date, the current fight for law protection, and why the future of Title IX is more important than ever.