How the sports and business worlds are sharing more experiences

I’m passionate about sport, and about using analytics in sport. This is how I got involved in a recent project on using analytics for sports venue optimisation. I think there is much that business can learn from sport — but also that sport can learn from business.

Learning lessons: feedback, performance and assessment

Sports teams want to win. That’s all that really counts — but it cannot be directly controlled. Instead, teams and individuals focus on what they can control: themselves. Sports teams chase excellence all the time, so that they can rely on being at their best when it matters.

To do this, they use a range of practices. Businesses could adopt some of these to start to drive a culture of continuous improvement, such as:

· Frequent feedback. It is routine for teams and individuals to receive feedback on their training, matches, rest, nutrition, and anything else that affects performance. This is sought, given and received in the spirit of supporting improvements.

· Frequent assessments. Elite teams and athletes are being assessed formally and informally all the time, with timed events in training as well as competitions. This enables performance to be tracked over time to identify patterns and issues.

· Learning from the past. Sports teams review their own games and performances to help them learn from their mistakes, and improve. In businesses, there is too often a focus on avoiding and/or allocating blame, which does not help open acknowledgement of mistakes or learning for the future.

· Knowing the competition. Sports teams, and especially coaches, spend hours watching and analysing other sports teams to identify strengths and weaknesses. This provides information about suitable tactics in matches and competitions — but can also be a benchmarking opportunity to improve in the longer term.

The drive to win leads to other behaviours that could help businesses. For example, sports teams prepare for games: they train separately and together, they analyse their opponents’ play, and they do all they can to be ready for big matches. They recognise that failing to prepare means preparing to fail. Improvising is not an option. You need to be able to react to circumstances, but this must be from a position of knowledge and awareness of risk.

Sport is also about teamwork, and not just on the field. Each sports team has its stars, but also those behind the scenes — and they are no less important. Some perform on the sports field, but others are responsible for nutrition, competition analysis, psychological support, or supporting training.

Recognition is also important. Teams and individuals celebrate winning medals, but sports have also long understood the importance of ‘Player of the Match’ or ‘Coach of the Year’ to recognise those making an outstanding contribution to the team. Accomplishments need to be celebrated — but failure also needs recognition, to learn from mistakes.

Learning from sport off the field

There are two other areas where business could learn from sport: fan engagement and sponsorship. Sports are great at keeping their fans engaged via social media, activities at events, and merchandising. Even during the pandemic, when there were no football matches, I still received information about offers from my favourite clubs. Sports are going global by penetrating new markets with tailored offers to customers around the world. Sports clubs also know that alliances (sponsorships and partnerships) are two-way opportunities to drive revenue.

Turning the relationship round: what sport is learning from business

There is, therefore, much that business can learn from sport, but what about the other way round? What can sport learn from business? I think perhaps the primary lesson is that data matters. Sports teams and coaches have used data in a scattered approach for a long time. However, few have used it systematically. The mere fact that a film was made about how the Oakland ‘A’s baseball team used statistics (the 2011 film ‘Moneyball’) shows that this approach was rare. Many coaching teams still rely on their gut instinct.

However, since about 2014, we have seen increasing use of data and analytics in sports. Teams are seeing the benefits of systematic analysis of performance information — and it’s not just numbers either. Visual analytics is increasingly being used to check pitch positioning and shot likelihood in ball sports. Analytics is also being used to manage venues and optimise spectator flows.

It is, therefore, not surprising that many sports teams and venues are interested in our work on venue optimisation. They already know that data can provide insights — and this, as someone already said, is ‘eye-opening’ in its potential.