How Big Data Technology Is Making Your Favorite Sport Even Better

A company called STATS has created a product called SportVU that takes videos of games – like soccer, basketball and football – and converts it into insights on player performance and other stats.

Using a system of high definition cameras that feed the output to computers running complex software, SportVU's technology is able to instantly capture and track a wide variety of statistics. These range from the conventional such as goals per soccer game to the more esoteric like the total distance a player ran during the course of a game.

SportVU touts its system as being useful to individual teams tracking player performance. It could also be interesting to sports broadcasters who love sharing unusual statistics during a game.

Sports teams can use the data to make more informed and strategic plays. When a football play calls for speed, they can know with mathematical certainty who the fastest player is. When a basketball play calls for a long-range scoring opportunity, they can know the best possible person to take the shot.

A system such as SportVU helps remove some of the subjectivity previously inherent with sports. The vast amounts of data it collects can be readily distilled down to useful stats that were previously impossible or unfeasible to record. Now it requires no effort at all, letting teams focus on strategy and effort.

And when sports teams raise the level of play, it's the fans who really stand to win.