These days sports organizations are turning to analytics to prevent injuries, improve fan engagement and increase player performance. These rise of these uses will cause the sports analytics market to continue to grow from $125 million in 2014 to $4.7 billion by 2021, according to Wintergreen Research.
We have seen the growth of sports analytics first with SportVU’s Player Tracking installed in every NBA arena in the 2013-14 season. This was the first major U.S. professional sports league to analyze live game action throughout the season. In 2014, the NFL installed Zebra Technologies Corporation real-time location system in 17 stadiums and then in 2015, they expanded to all NFL stadiums.
Zebra Technologies Corporation was founded in 1969 and builds tracking technology and solutions to make businesses more connected to the world. And the company has expanded on this foundation by creating the Zebra Sports Solution which helps the NFL gain real-time visibility into the field of play.
Now, MOCAP Analytics, Inc. is working hand in hand with Zebra to expand the business opportunities associated with location-tracking and data analytics for professional and amateur football teams.
MOCAP Analytics, a Silicon Valley tech startup company, was co-founded in 2011 by Caltech PhDs. The company has grown from an early partnership with the Golden State Warriors to becoming leaders in analyzing player-tracking and related data. The company’s goal is to develop the premier sports analytics platform for performance tracking and fan engagement.
Together, MOCAP and Zebra are providing insights for teams about players and future matchups and are currently developing solutions to be used for both the professional and college level teams.
“The data collected by Zebra’s location-tracking devices has potential to create significant value to coaches, players, trainers, broadcasters, and fans,” said the co-founder and CEO of MOCAP Analytics, Arian Forouhar. “It’s exciting to work with an innovator like Zebra and to provide insights to professional and college football teams, focusing on data visualizations and analytics.”
The MLB and NHL have also installed their own versions of player-tracking systems in 2014 and 2015. With the sports analytics marketing continuing to grow we can expect to see a significant difference in how sports franchises run their operations.