Sports Enthusiasts Confirm Value In Modern Data mining Solutions At Sports Analytics Conference

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BOSTON, April 11, 2011 – The recorded presentation on data mining for baseball has been released by the MIT Sports Analytics Conference organizers. Salford Systems presented in simple and illustrative terms how sports analytics can be revolutionized by employing modern decision tree and data mining technologies at the 4th Annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in March. 

Salford’s presentation provided an example of data mining in baseball using player performance data from the 2010 Major League Baseball season. Utilizing the data and determining a measure of success as winning a league division, the model successfully pinpoints which of the player statistics is associated with a team winning.

The pioneering data mining approach to sports analytics differs from the traditional “single case performance” approach, in that it is capable of extracting complex patterns and highlighting the most relevant variables and features in a dataset. Optimal datasets may include injury data, physical characteristics and behavioral data from sport leagues across the board.

The advanced approach was duly recognized by attendees as a front-runner for sports analytics. “There was a general sensation of excitement and fascination among the researchers, managers, and sport enthusiasts attending the talk,” said Mikhail Golovnya, senior scientist at Salford Systems. “It generated a surprising amount of interest and willingness to proceed with this innovative idea that could someday change the world of sport.”

The more than 100 audience members were intrigued by Golovnya’s presentation; which generated numerous questions following the hour-long talk. “The presentation was extremely useful as it described a step-by-step approach to analyze sports data,” said Kiran Vinta, conference organizer. “Mikhail was a very engaging speaker and provided clear explanations for analysis methodologies that can be used by experts and novices alike.”

MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference

Annually held in Boston, the goal of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (http://www.sloansportsconference.com/) is to provide a forum for industry professionals (executives and leading researchers) and students to discuss the increasing role of analytics in the sports industry.

About Salford Systems

Founded in 1983, Salford Systems specializes in providing new-generation data mining and predictive modeling software and consulting services for industries such as banking, insurance, healthcare, pharmaceutical, telecommunications, transportation, manufacturing, retail and catalog sales, and education. The company’s CART®, MARS®, TreeNet® and RandomForests® data mining software is currently installed in over 3,500 sites worldwide, including 300 major universities. Salford Systems is headquartered in San Diego, CA. For more information, visit http://www.salford-systems.com or telephone (619) 543-8880. 

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Contact
Heather Hinman
Salford Systems
619-543-8880 ext. 130
hhinman@salford-systems.com