ARMONK, N.Y., Feb. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of the
grand opening of the Toronto Raptors' BioSteel Centre today, IBM
(NYSE: IBM) and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) are
introducing a first of its kind solution called IBM Sports Insights
Central. The solution is designed to transform the Raptors' talent
evaluation processes by reimagining data through cognitive and
analytics technology.
IBM Sports Insights Central was developed with input from the
Toronto Raptors to provide a comprehensive platform to view,
organize and surface relevant data important in evaluating
individual and team performance. The platform extends beyond
current roster players to include all NBA players and NBA
prospects.
The solution was designed by IBM Interactive Experience, the
world's largest digital agency, and is powered by IBM Watson
cognitive business technology built on the IBM BlueMix cloud
development platform. The solution also incorporates cloud services
developed by IBM Research. These include IBM Watson Tradeoff
analytics, which assess possible roster combinations against a
variety of criteria, and IBM Watson Personality Insights, which
includes linguistic analytics to understand player personality and
social characteristics that align with the organizational culture.
IBM Watson Alchemy API technology can further help analyze public
news sources to round out player profiles.
"As the NBA continues to achieve greater parity, we are
continually looking for a way to gain a competitive
advantage. Through this partnership we were able to use IBM's
human and technological resources to build a valuable tool that
will allow us to evaluate our current roster and potential changes
in ways that were not available before," said Masai Ujiri,
President and General Manager of the Toronto Raptors. "IBM's
solution will raise the bar on the industry standard of player
evaluation by automating a historically manual process."
Sports teams, like other industries and businesses, grapple with
time consuming manual operational processes to gather and share
relevant insights to team, player and prospect data for player
evaluation and acquisition. This struggle becomes especially
difficult in time sensitive situations like the moments leading up
to the annual draft.
"This pioneering work and extensive collaboration with MLSE and
the Toronto Raptors to design this solution will provide the
Toronto Raptors, and eventually other professional sports
franchises, with a faster means to share, visualize and drive
time-critical decisions," said Jim
Rushton, Global Leader, IBM Sports and Entertainment
Practice. "Through this solution, the Raptors will be able to
reimagine their data to set a new standard of excellence for talent
evaluation and acquisition."
Through these improved analytics and visual insights, IBM Sports
Insights Central helps management create player personnel
assessments that automatically quantify financial and performance
impact on current status of the team.
About MLSE
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) is one of the world's
premier sports and entertainment companies that owns the Toronto
Maple Leafs (NHL), the Toronto Raptors (NBA), the Toronto Marlies
(AHL), Toronto FC (MLS), Toronto FC II, Raptors 905 (NBA D-League),
Air Canada Centre, Maple Leaf Square and three digital channels —
Leafs TV, NBA TV Canada and GOLTV Canada. MLSE has also invested in
four of Toronto's sports facilities —
Ricoh Coliseum, home of the Marlies, BMO Field, home of Toronto FC,
Lamport Stadium, and the MasterCard Centre for Hockey Excellence,
the practice facility for the Maple Leafs and Marlies. MLSE
operates and manages events at Ricoh Coliseum and BMO Field.
IBM is a cognitive solutions and cloud platform company.
IBM Sports Insights Central is delivered through the experience
design that IBM Interactive Experience, the industry's largest
hybrid digital agency and consultancy, has delivered for events
such as The Masters and the tennis Grand Slam events -- Wimbledon,
US Open and Australian Open. Rich visualization is provided by IBM
partner, MultiTaction. Further
information about the solution is here.
IBM's full suite of sports solutions includes Fan
Experience consulting, analytics for team performance, venue
optimization, the cognitive capabilities of IBM Watson, fiber-based
networking, flash storage, wireless networking and open-standard
hybrid cloud delivery as the basis of emerging business
solutions.
To read IBM Researcher John Lechner's blog on these developments
visit: http://ibm.co/1QpFLmu
You can view and download a video on the new IBM Sports Insights
Central solution installed for the Toronto Raptors at the BioSteel
Centre in Toronto by clicking
here: The video is available in HD, standard definition broadcast
and streaming quality.
#ibmsports
For more information:
Leslie Plant
IBM Media Relations
416-478-9840
laplant@ca.ibm.com
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SOURCE IBM