Former U.S. President Barack Obama will be among the honorary speakers at this year’s MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, the school announced earlier this week.
The 12th annual event will take place at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center February 23rd and 24th. Alongside Obama, the highly publicized conference will feature some of the biggest names in the sports industry, including former Microsoft CEO and Los Angeles Clippers Owner Steve Ballmer, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred, National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman, National Basketball League Commissioner Adam Silver, and former and professional athletes like Steve Nash, Alex Rodriguez, and Seattle Storm point guard and U.S. Olympian Sue Bird, among others.
The annual conference was co-founded by MIT Sloan students Daryl Morey and Jessica Gelman in 2006. Morey has gone on to become the current general manager of the Houston Rockets and Gelman, CEO of Kraft Analytics Group. The conference they kickstarted, meanwhile, has transformed into one of the most formative sports business events in the world. Since its inception, the event has spawned and popularized numerous movements in the industry, including a revolution among basketball coaching practices founded on the belief that a deep understanding of sports analytics can yield success on the court (coined “MoreyBall” for the Sloan alumnus who advanced it).
During his tenure in the White House, Obama’s sports fandom became a much-publicized part of his public persona, with the commander in chief appearing on ESPN throughout his two terms to discuss the NCAA tournament, college football playoffs, and more.
.@BarackObama, the 44th President of the United States, will speak at @SloanSportsConf February 23. We are pleased to welcome President Barack Obama, a well-known sports fan. Visit https://t.co/2E9wO8Qo5K for more details #SSAC18 #analyzethis
— Sloan Sports Conf. (@SloanSportsConf) January 6, 2018
“At our roots, we are about education and our goal is to provide more opportunities for sharing industry successes, to create forums to discuss the most challenging topics of the day, and to continue identifying new ideas,” reads the conference website. Committed to continual innovation, the conference each year has added new elements to push the larger sports analytics conversation forward, including a research paper competition introduced in 2010, the popular and successful hackathon, an e-sports room, and industry-specific workshops. “Despite our past successes, we firmly believe that the best is yet to come,” the conference website states.
Find out more information about the event and register today.
This post has been republished in its entirety from its original source, metromba.com.
