The use of predictive analytics has grown rapidly in sports, but those projections remain only as good as the inputs they consider.
Recentive Analytics has distinguished itself in the inclusion of a broad spectrum of factors, such as predicting attendance not just on team-specific factors such as win-loss record, star players and historical ticket sales, but also on the local economy, competing events in the city, the weather and more.
“What we’ve looked at and said is, it’s actually everything else that probably matters a lot more,” Recentive founder and CEO Andy Tabrizi said. “How does the sports team fit into the ecosystem at large? The power of what we’re doing is to be able to consolidate a lot of data sources that are never really considered.”
Carlin Hudson, NWSL vice president of strategy, touted the helpfulness of those “non-typical sports inputs to help build their outputs” as an asset in Recentive’s recent work building the league’s schedule to optimize attendance and maximize viewership prior to a new broadcast rights deal.
Recentive, which raised a $45 million Series B this past March, created Velo, its natural language AI tool, to expedite searches and improve the accessibility of its analysis to more users. It works with several major North American leagues, none more high-profile than its collaboration with the NFL on its schedule. Recentive’s predictive viewership is a foundational metric — and typically accurate within 3% — and last year it added new constraints around competitive balance and broadcast equity.
Tabrizi is careful not to use the word “recommendation” to describe Recentive’s work, preferring instead to “inform and quantify the impact of decisions” based on the needs and strategy of each club and league.
“Our job is to say, ‘If you go down Door 1, 2 or 400, here’s what will happen,’” Tabrizi said. “‘You guys decide, based on your relationships and other elements that we have no idea are going on internally, what’s the best option for you right now.’”
Recentive Analytics
FOUNDED: 2018
HQ: Boston and San Francisco
EMPLOYEES: 35
KEY EXECUTIVE: Andy Tabrizi, founder/CEO
KEY PARTNERS: NFL, Live Nation, MLB, NWSL, USTA, New York Mets, Oklahoma City Thunder, Arctos
