Project Title: Sport Analytics Database Software: Wyscout Event API

Project Lead's Name: Ryan Chen

Project Lead's Email: chenz147@MiamiOH.edu

Project Lead's Phone: 513-529-0233

Project Lead's Division: EHS

Primary Department: Sport Leadership & Management

Other Team Members:

• Adam Beissel
• Jerry Wang
• Melissa Chase

List Departments Benefiting or Affected by this proposal:

• Department of Sport Leadership & Management
• Department of Statistics
• Department of Information Statistics and Analytics
• College of EHS
• College of Arts and Science
• Farmer School of Business

Estimated Number of Under-Graduate students affected per year (should be number who will actually use solution, not just who is it available to): 720

Estimated Number of Graduate students affected per year (should be number who will actually use solution, not just who is it available to): 84

Describe the problem you are attempting to solve and your approach for solving that problem:

This will solve two interrelated issues with regard to our newly introduced sport analytics programs.

1. Enhancing classroom learning in sport analytics: The purpose of this submission is to fund a one-year subscription to a sports information database to enhance the delivery and classroom pedagogies of our undergraduate and graduate sport analytics curriculum. The database comes from Wyscout, an industry-recognized leader in soccer analytics data, owned under the parent company of Hudl. The Wyscout database provides data, statistics, and a video platform specifically designed for soccer professionals and researchers. The power of the Wyscout database is that it sends data feeds via a standard system API in JSON format that our sport analytics students are introduced to and indeed engage with, throughout their progress in our sport analytics programs at Miami. Access to this database will provide students with highly detailed, accurate, and 'real world' data that can be used across multiple levels of learning in sport analytics. Data such as this is not readily available or free for our students or classes.
2. Better position students for jobs in sport analytics: In becoming familiar with the highly popular, and widely used, Wyscout soccer analytics database students will be better prepared for successful employment within the sport industry. More specifically, a subscription to the Wyscout soccer analytics database will provide them access to complete statistical reports, data visualizations, and video analysis of Major League Soccer (MLS) statistics that are essential for job seekers in the area of soccer analytics in North America. This will better position our sport analytics students for highly competitive and coveted positions such as data scientists, ticket analysts, and statisticians with professional soccer teams (e.g., FC Cincinnati, Columbus Crew, Chicago Fire). For example, a recent graduate of our program had to analyze five different sets of data to demonstrate her knowledge and skills during the interview process before she was hired. We must provide real-world data and extensive experiences for our students.

How would you describe the innovation and/or the significance of your project:

Wyscout is a private and exclusive database that is used by a range of professionals in the sport analytics industry: players, coaches, scouts, agents, referees, clubs, and federations. On the one hand, the innovation that our project proposes is simply giving students access to cutting-edge data that students in other programs across the country do not have. Moreover, the format of the Wyscout database will introduce our students to the ways in which API data feeds and JSON formatted information are used within sport analytics and the sports industry more generally.

The significance of this project is that it has the potential to reach a substantial number of students. This is due to the interrelated nature of our sport analytics programming that was funded initially in 2018 from the Boldly Creative proposal. Through strategic partnerships and integrated curriculum, Miami students interested in sport analytics have a variety of different pathways toward achieving their educational and career goals. Thus, there are several programs and courses across various departments and divisions at Miami that would benefit from this database. While by no means a complete list, the courses outlined below indicate the sheer number of students that would benefit from this project over the course of a one-year subscription.

This will benefit 720 undergraduate students. This number represents the SLAM majors and minors who are required to take the Introduction to Sport Analytics and Applied Sport Analytics classes that would use this software.

This will benefit 84 students. This number represents the SLAM students enrolled in the Master of Sport Analytics, the MS in SLAM, and the Combined 4 + 1 students. All of these enrollments are growing each year.

Undergraduate:

• ISA 245 Database and Programming for Analytics = 4 sections of 35 = 140
• ISA 291 Applied Regression Analysis = 4 section of 35 = 140
• SLM 275 Introduction to Sport Analytics: 4 sections of 35 = 140
• SLM 314 Sport Analytics 1= 20
• SLM 315 Sport Analytics 2 = 20
• SLM 317 Sport Analytics 3 = 20
• SLM 413 Sport Economics = 6 section of 35 = 210
• SLM 418 Applied Sport Analytics: 1 section of 20
• SLM 420 Critical Reflections in Practices in Sport Leadership & Management = 20

Graduate:

• ISA 514 Managing Big Data = 30
• ISA 591: Introduction to Data Mining = 30
• SLM 637: Sport Business Analytics = 12
• SLM 638: Sport Performance Analytics = 12

How will you assess the success of the project?

A series of questions will be added to end-of-semester course evaluations in three SLAM courses: SLM 275 (introductory); SLM 418 (intermediate); and SLM 638 (advanced). These questions will allow students to provide feedback and suggestions on both (a) how Wyscout improved their technical knowledge and capabilities and (b) how the database better-prepared students for careers in sport analytics. In addition, we will examine the job placement of our students who graduate and move on to sport analytics positions. Our industry partners can provide an assessment of how well our students are prepared. This data will be examined by our faculty to determine the effectiveness of the project.

Financial Information

Total Amount Requested: $5,250

Budget Details:

The included budget was provided by the Wyscout parent company Hudl. It quotes the sales price for a one-year subscription for a "1 competition event API". We will choose Major League Soccer (MLS) as our '1 competition' because it will better prepare students for job opportunities in North America.

Please address how, if at all, this project aligns with University, Divisional, Departmental or Center strategic goals:

The Department of Sport Leadership & Management has developed a range of sport analytics programs, curriculum, and courses over the past four (4) years. These include:

• Sport Analytics Minor
• Sport Analytics Summer Academy and Undergraduate Certificate
• Sport Analytics Concentration in the Bachelor of Arts in Data Analytics
• Sport Analytics Masters
• Sport Analytics Graduate Certificate
• 7 Sport Analytics Courses

This project will benefit all aspects of the department's strategic goals for the past few years. It will increase collaboration between interdisciplinary collaborations in the area of sport analytics within the university. Moreover, it will strengthen strategic partnerships with external stakeholders in the soccer industry (e.g., FC Cincinnati, Columbus Crew). Finally, this project will further enhance the SLAM Department's strategic recruitment of new undergraduate and graduate students.