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Scouting Technology

4 minute read · Issue Number 84 · September 3rd, 2021

Ronen Ainbinder

Sep 3, 2021

Welcome to another weekly edition of Sports-Tech Biz! Every Friday, we learn about intriguing topics related to sports, business, and technology. If you’re reading this online or in a forwarded email, sign up for the newsletter:

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Throughout history, how much talent do you think was wasted because it wasn’t found?

My guess: A LOT.

Thankfully, we’re in the technology era, and it’s about time we get rid of talent scarcity and the headaches of traditional scouting.

Let’s talk about why it matters, the solutions and current players in the market, predictions, and opportunities.

Scouting Technology

Why it matters?

Scouting technology saves scouts, teams, and players time and money, while also exposes and distributes evidence of emerging talent.

It creates opportunities that wouldn’t exist otherwise.

You can find talent and help others get found.

🔍 Problem

Scouting kids by visiting towns and watching them play was never scalable.

Similarly, it is challenging for an athlete to establish himself as a legitimate prospect if not seen.

💡 Solutions & Players

The goal is to create a scalable and sustainable model for scouting through different types of technology.

Data collection & analytics – Catapult, Hudl, Wyscout
Measurement & tracking devices – gpexe, Stat Sports
Computer vision, video, and augmented/virtual reality – Sportlogiq, NextVR
AI-generated highlights– WSC Sports, Reely
Social networks & communities – Gloria, Sports Thread, Twitch
Biometrics – AiSCOUT

🔮 Predictions & Opportunities

Data privacy & validation will be essential for scouting
- Who will validate the data?
- Who will own the rights to this data?
The upcoming platforms will suffer from the chicken or the egg dilemma
- What will they need more – emerging talent or scouts?
- My guess: scouts
There will be a ‘winner takes most,’ but there will be niche winners as well
- In tech, usually the most integrated platform with wins due to network effects — however, I hardly see one software scouting for all sports worldwide.
- Will there be an all-around solution? If so, from which sector do you see it coming out on top?
Youth Sports will be the ones choosing the platform, not the scouts
- Grassroots sports in the US is a market expected to top 77.6 billion USD by 2026
Forget about WFH (Work From Home) – teams will turn their heads to SFH (Scout From Home)
- With a coronavirus pandemic that doesn’t seem like it’s going away anytime soon, teams will provide scouts with the best tools to be able to scout the best talent from the comfort of their home

🔗 Links

Scouting in the NFL May Never Be the Same – sports executives are only starting to realize how much time and money they can save on technological solutions to scouting & recruiting.
How AI is helping sports teams scout star players – Algorithms transform how athletes are evaluated, erasing subjectivity and keeping only objective value.
Can’t Scout Players in Person? – This technology could also be used to analyze players in high school or playing overseas.

🎙 Halftime Snack of the Week

Managing Business Operations of a Sports-Tech Company

Lauren Knight Hughes has been essential to build and develop the network and software behind the several solutions Sports Thread brings to the sports industry.

This episode covers:

· the importance of leadership, vision, and culture
· finding fires in operation and creating systems to solve and prevent them from happening
· marketing through media relations, licensing, advertisements
· and more!

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