Touchdown For Data Science Students

During Super Bowl 50, several Houghton College students had a very unique view. In fact, we were told we could go anywhere we wanted with just a flash of our credentials. During Super Bowl 50, we were at Levi’s Stadium.

Last October, we were selected to intern and collect data for economic impact research for Golfweek Amateur Tour. This was because of a connection with Houghton College alumnus Dexter Davis.  Davis is a Professor of Sport Management at the University of Tennessee at Martin (UTM). Houghton reached out to him because of a local newspaper article about all of his exciting sports management endeavors. For instance, he has been to 11 Super Bowls. During Golfweek, Dr. Davis got to know us and after connected with us again to present the opportunity to go to the Super Bowl. It was a long process of getting credentials and approval to work for NFL On Location, but he had been through it many times and was a great help.

Overall, our group of students wanted to find new ways to approach sports business and analytics by gaining insight on how this particular sporting event was run. Our day in the stadium was not focused on actual analytics, rather the problems we could solve through use of data science.

Isaac Hess ‘16 commented on the opportunity, “Words cannot describe how valuable this experience was to me in addition to combining two huge passions of mine, sports and business.” Houghton and UTM students were personal assistants to Hall of Fame players, including Rod Woodson, Dermontti Dawson, Warren Moon, and Shannon Sharpe to name just a few.

During the time we were not assisting our players, we got to see hands-on what it takes to run the largest sporting event in America. Every detail was thought out, and every problem was solved along the way with the help of a great network of managers and volunteers. If you were a fan, you wouldn’t sense even a hiccup in organization. Everything was seemingly effortless and extremely exciting.

After the dream of game day ended, we were able to begin asking questions. What types of issues at the Super Bowl or other sporting events could we help to solve through use of data science and sports management?

Hopefully through this experience, we will be able to form data based, quantifiable questions in the future to supplement the sports industry. With our connections to Golfweek Amateur Tour and future connections being made with more local sports organizations, we can find a place to apply these ideas.

On top of this, our group all made connections with UTM students and faculty. Bjorn Webb ‘18 reflected, “The relationships that I developed while staying and working with students from UTM will be relationships I am able to take with me into the workforce.” This was an extremely valuable experience for both schools.

During the rest of the week in San Francisco, we had the opportunity  to visit Tableau, a software development and data visualization company, and Cisco, a Silicon Valley technology company. We were able to discuss the analytics of college football data during our time trying out Vizable, a new app developed by Tableau to make data visualization simpler for the general public. Ashley Schenk ‘16 noted, “It was an incredible glimpse into such an exciting and innovative company.”

Over all, the week felt like a dream for the students that traveled to California. Thanks to the work of Garfield Fisher and his wife Carmen McKell, the founders of Houghton Center for Data Science Analytics (CDSA), we had an incredible trip. The connections the students made and the friendships that were built were priceless.