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Connor Walsh
School of Professional and Extended Studies, American University
SPEX 600: Innovation Through New Technologies
Dr. Wylie Chen
February 28, 2021
Report to Stakeholders
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Executive Summary

My recommendation to the University of Delaware Football program is to incorporate

real-time player-tracking technology, specifically the APEX Team Series by STATSports, into

their decision-making and player evaluation processes to generate more success on the field.

STATSports’ football-oriented technology has already been adopted by a variety of notable

teams at all levels of elite football competition, including the Carolina Panthers and Washington

Football Team of the National Football League (NFL), the Oklahoma Sooners in Power Five

Division I college football, and the North Dakota State Bison at the Football Championship

Subdivision (FCS) level.

First and foremost, investing in this technology will lead to more efficient decision-

making during games because coaches will receive real-time data and feedback that can be

applied to game situations. With this real-time data, there will be a faster data analysis process as

less time will be needed for data to be prepared, processed, and analyzed. As a result of this

immediate feedback, student-athletes will be able to make quicker improvements which will lead

to lead to more team success and as a result increased revenue.

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Memo

Date: February 28, 2021

To: Chrissi Rawak, Danny Rocco, Christina Rasnake

From: Connor Walsh, N3XT Sports

Subject: Adopting STATSports Real-Time Player Tracking Technology

The University of Delaware’s football program has an incredible opportunity to establish

a consistent level of success in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). With losing

seasons in three of the past five years and no season with more than seven wins since 2010, the

program needs a competitive advantage (Bluehens.com, 2019). That advantage will come from

the incorporation of new technology and real-time data into their decision-making and

performance evaluation processes. As a former analytics intern with the university, it was

evident that the football program could benefit from an infusion of data into these processes.

Sports analytics have revolutionized how teams evaluate players and make decisions

through increased computational power, new performance technologies, and advanced statistical

methods (Lin, Yang, Beyer, & Pfister, 2020). Extensive technical sports knowledge is no longer

enough to establish a winning program (Kaya, 2014). Adjustments always need to be made to

improve future decision making, which makes corrective feedback through analytics reports

essential (Lin, Yang, Beyer, & Pfister, 2020). These reports help translate qualitative analysis of

players based on sports performance metrics. These metrics set standards for physical qualities

necessary for optimal athletic performance, which can be set by the coaching staff depending on

their preferences in performance areas like strength, speed, agility, and power. This analysis can

be used to classify players during performance evaluations, while also giving coaches feedback
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that they can implement into their game plans and use to forecast future game situations (Sarlis

& Tjortjis, 2020).

However, effective data-driven decision-making does not come without its challenges.

First, there is the extent to which data can be effectively used. With the sheer amount of data

being collected from performance technologies and other systems, it requires extra time for

preparation, processing, and analysis. In college football, adjustments need to be made in a short

period of time, so this data and corresponding analysis is more useful when received in real-time

(Giblin, Tor, & Parrington, 2016). Even when data can be effectively used, another issue is

helping coaches understand the data that is being analyzed. Currently, this process is done

primarily by data analysts, which can lead to miscommunication with coaching staffs. For data to

be properly implemented, it is vital that these analysts further educate coaches on data analysis

and its corresponding technologies (Lin, Yang, Beyer, & Pfister, 2020).

To make data more useful in the decision-making process, University of Delaware

football needs to invest in real-time player tracking technology. This technology captures and

processes performance data instantly to provide feedback that can be immediately used by the

coaching staff. Player tracking provides metrics detailing the physical condition of each athlete

while also identifying their positioning on the field (Sarlis & Tjortjis, 2020). Potential injuries

can be quickly identified allowing coaches to proactively remove them from the game, and it can

help coaches make adjustments in formations depending on the positioning of each player (Lin,

Yang, Beyer, & Pfister, 2020).

While there are a few different types of player tracking, the one best suited for the

university’s football program are GPS wearables because of how easy they are to use. These

wearables are small devices placed underneath each player’s equipment that contain
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electromagnetic or micromechanical sensors which activate during movement. These sensors

then transmit data in real-time back to the sidelines along with feedback that helps explain what

it means (Pueo & Jimenez-Olmedo, 2017).

The best vendor to provide the football program with player tracking technology is

STATSports, specifically with their new APEX Team Series. This system is at the top of its class

because it provides unrivalled data accuracy that helps coaches confidently make decisions. In an

independent study done by the French Rugby Federation in which they evaluated all leading GPS

tracking providers including competitors like Catapult and Sensore, STATSports Apex was the

only system capable of meeting their standards for quality and reliability (STATSports Group

Limited, 2020).

At the center of the Team Series is the APEX Pod device. Developed in 2017, it is the

most powerful athlete performance-tracking device ever assembled. Placed inside of a vest that is

worn underneath a player’s shoulder pads, this device sets the industry standard for data

accuracy, reliability, and consistency. Equipped with an accelerometer, augmented GPS,

magnetometer, and gyroscope, the APEX Pod can provide teams with more than 260

performance metrics for each athlete that help illustrate their physical condition. At the same

time, using satellite systems and time of flight technology this device gathers accurate stadium

data that helps gather precise positional information (STATSports Group Limited, 2020).

Data retrieved from this device is transmitted back to the sideline through the Sonra Live

iPad app, which live monitors training loads during games, practices, and other team sessions.

Through the app’s benching function, players can even be added or remove when substituted in

and out of games ensuring the live data and reports are focused on active time. In Sonra Live,

coaches can access individual player dashboards that have performance metrics displayed in
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grouped categories, with more than 30 of these metrics being viewable at once. Each players’

data can then be compared to team averages as well as expected thresholds for each metric.

These comparisons assist coaches in evaluating whether lineup changes or strategy adjustments

need to be made to bring out the physical strengths of each of their players (Kaya, 2014). While

this seems like a lot for one coach to handle, the data on Sonra Live can also be viewed by

multiple coaches at one time, allowing this process to be split between each position group on

the team (STATSports Group Limited, 2020). Delegating this analysis to the entire coaching

staff takes the stress off the head coach, and streamlines the feedback given to players since each

position has different physical requirements (Giblin, Tor, & Parrington, 2016).

What powers the analysis process for STATSports is Sonra 3.0, the most powerful

performance analysis software ever developed. It currently boasts the download speeds that are

four times faster than any of its competitors, with the ability to download a two-hour session for

16 players in less than two minutes. With live data syncing, Sonra’s interface offers customizable

widgets, dashboards, tables, charts, and powerful custom visualizations that makes the data more

visually appealing. This makes it easier for coaches to understand the data being collected

because they physically see the analysis instead of having to read through numbers (Lin, Yang,

Beyer, & Pfister, 2020). To further simplify this process, Sonra also enables users to create

metrics that cater to their needs that can be added to dashboards, visualized in charts, and

generated in reports (STATSports Group Limited, 2020). This form of data mining ensures that

coaches and analysts are seeing the data that they feel to be most useful and can apply to their

decision-making process (Sarlis & Tjortjis, 2020).

Furthermore, STATSports’ technology offers football-focused benefits. Sonra’s video

manager brings together tracking and game data through video integration, which generates
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physical reports in a strategic context (STATSports Group Limited, 2020). As a result, coaches

can view game film while looking at the corresponding analysis during film sessions (Lin, Yang,

Beyer, & Pfister, 2020). Sonra’s software also generates positional analysis by using Google

Maps to create in-depth mapping features such as heatmaps, sprint maps, positional replay, and

illustrations. Any individual play can be selected for analysis, providing teams with the ability to

see whether receivers are running effective routes, if pass rushers are taking the quickest path to

the quarterback, and much more. Finally, a particularly unique feature of Sonra’s software is

collision analysis can even track every individual collision and analyze every play with impact

timing differentials and return to feet statistics for each individual player. This will help coaches

look out for a player’s safety and be proactive in injury prevention (Lin, Yang, Beyer, & Pfister,

2020).

With that being said, the exact cost of partnering with STATSports will depend on the

football program’s technology and software needs. As a reference, the APEX Coach Series,

which is a step below the Team Series, uses a variable pricing method depending on the quantity

of APEX pods that are needed. For an active roster of 65 players, the program would be looking

at $229.99 per pod. However, a partnership through the Team Series will lead to further

discounted prices on the pods and analysis software (STATSports Group Limited, 2020).

STATSports technology is not an inexpensive investment, but it will lead to increased

revenue through more team success. The university itself currently subsidizes 82% of the athletic

department’s budget, the second-most in the CAA conference behind James Madison. With

football being the largest revenue generator at most collegiate programs, winning more games

will help increase ticket sales and therefore decrease their reliance on university subsidies

(Orledge, Stein, & Emig, 2018). This team success will first come from a faster data analysis
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process. By receiving data in real-time, there will be less time needed for preparation and

processing which will make the data more useful (Giblin, Tor, & Parrington, 2016). Because of

this, players will receive immediate feedback from the coaching staff on how to elevate their

individual performance (Giblin, Tor, & Parrington, 2016). Finally, this technology will lead to

more efficient decision-making. Live data regarding each athlete’s physical condition and

positioning allows for quicker adjustments that can protect against injuries and improve team

efficiency (Lin, Yang, Beyer, & Pfister, 2020).

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References

Giblin, G., & Parrington, L. (2016). The impact of technology on elite sports performance.

Sensoria: A Journal of Mind, Brain & Culture, 12(2). doi:10.7790/sa.v12i2.436

Kaya, A. (2014). Decision Making by Coaches and Athletes in Sport. Procedia - Social and

Behavioral Sciences, 152, 333-338. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.09.205

Lin, T., Yang, Y., Beyer, J., & Pfister, H. (2020). SportsXR--Immersive Analytics in

Sports. arXiv preprint arXiv:2004.08010.

Orledge, J., Stein, A., & Emig, K. (2018, July 11). Delaware athletics relies on 82 percent of

budget being subsidized by university. Retrieved February 28, 2021, from

http://udreview.com/delaware-athletics-subsidized/

Pueo, B., & Jimenez-Olmedo, J. M. (2017). Application of motion capture technology for sport

per=formance analysis (El uso de la tecnología de captura de movimiento para el análisis

del rendimiento deportivo). Retos, (32), 241-247. doi:10.47197/retos.v0i32.56072

Sarlis, V., & Tjortjis, C. (2020). Sports analytics — Evaluation of basketball players and team

performance. Information Systems, 93, 101562. doi:10.1016/j.is.2020.101562

STATSports Group Limited. (2020). Apex coach Series pack - Multibuy Option. Retrieved

February 28, 2021, from https://shop.statsports.com/products/apex-coach-series

STATSports Group Limited. (2020). APEX Team Series [Brochure]. North Ireland: Author.

Retrieved February 28, 2021, from https://statsports.com/wp-

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