How the NFL Used Supercomputers to Set Its TV (and Streaming) Schedule
"As soon as the Super Bowl ended in February, the N.F.L. used high-powered computers that produced a quadrillion possible schedule combinations. To create this season’s calendar, the league relied on Amazon Web Services, as well as Recentive Analytics in Boston... Abandoning its longtime approach of manually blocking out pro football’s traditional anchors, like Thanksgiving Day matchups and division rivalries in the last weeks of the regular season, the N.F.L. instead focused on producing the highest overall viewership for the season across all platforms, not just prime-time broadcasts on the free over-the-air TV networks."
The New York Times | August 2023
2023 NFL Schedule Release
"Increasingly, the NFL schedule release is evidence that the league itself knows what you like. And with each year, the folks in charge are going to be guessing less and less... Indeed, what you’ll see when the final schedule is revealed Thursday at 8 p.m. ET was worked through computers, and—as seemingly everything is in sports now—complex analytical studies built to, in Bose’s phrasing, flip the mix of art and science that goes into the scheduling process. The league has its computers and its own in-house analytics team helping. It also has Amazon Web Services and Recentive Analytics out of Boston pitching in to make sure it is looking around absolutely every corner.”
Elevate-Recentive Venture Aims at Sports-Specific Software Market
"Elevate Sports Ventures has entered a joint venture with Recentive Analytics. At the heart of the deal is Precast, a subscription tool used by teams and other sports properties to predict fan consumption behavior. More than 30 clients across leagues currently use Precast to price and market tickets, combining a variety of data inputs to predict the most cost-effective offerings... Elevate CEO Al Guido described the joint venture as an early step in Elevate’s evolution to “have our own proprietary tools that the marketplace could use.”
Red Sox turn to analytics company to optimize start times
"Over his seven-plus years on the analytics side of the Red Sox’s business operation, Jon Hay can recall a few previous instances when his department dabbled with the concept of tweaking start times for games. There was intrigue at its potential for optimization, but it wasn’t a top priority... That all changed during the pandemic. 'There’s a much bigger appetite to try new things in general,' said Hay, Boston’s vice president of data, intelligence and analytics. With that in mind, the Red Sox this season are exploring ways to maximize their local television ratings through start time variation by leaning on Recentive, a Boston-based analytics company."
(Related article also at Boston.com)
Recentive helps drive Sundays
"Recentive's software platforms provide real-time forecasts that help the NFL to understand future outcomes and ultimately impact and better predict what that future will be... With the broadcasting department our job is to help the league get the right games to the right fans at the right times and ultimately support the league in getting NFL fans more of what they are interested in."
Stars & Recentive expand partnership to bolster fan engagement
"The Dallas Stars announced today that they are expanding their relationship with machine learning leader Recentive Analytics to include solutions covering fan, ticketing and media analytics -- expanding on a partnership that began in 2017 focused on attendance and fan engagement initiatives."
Early or late game? NFL uses analytics to guide network decisions
“You can look at geography, you can look at players, but beyond that, the human eye has no way to dig deeper and actually understand the incremental value of one versus the other... By looking at all the other data sources we have, and truly understanding what matters in Boise, Boston or Miami, we’re able to, on a very, very granular level, say that this game is 5% better in one market and 25% better in another.”
Oklahoma City Thunder Expands Partnership with Recentive Analytics
“The Oklahoma City Thunder today announced the expansion of their partnership with Recentive Analytics, an industry leader in artificial intelligence solutions for sports and live entertainment properties. Recentive’s platforms will provide the Thunder with a host of solutions that bolster business intelligence and empower sales and service initiatives. The expansion builds upon the commitment of providing predictive analytics around season tickets and game by game attendance.”
Washington Commanders And Recentive Analytics Announce Technology Partnership
"There is an incredible amount of data we need to tap into to better serve our fans, and Recentive will be an important component behind the decisions we make moving forward, said Brian Lafemina, President of Business Operations and COO. The [Commanders] will employ Recentive's suite of products to optimize the customer experience at FedExField.
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