We ready. #SSAC15 pic.twitter.com/hFOadqTTX2
— Sloan Sports Conf. (@SloanSportsConf) February 26, 2015
The ninth annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference kicks off on Friday, February 26, with yet another staggering list of impressive guests. Everyone from newly-installed Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred as well as his National Basketball Association equivalent, Adam Silver, to famous Moneyball author Michael Lewis will be in attendance. Still, with the big name glamour, it's important to keep in mind some of the other, no less qualified speakers.
Attending the SSAC can be slightly overwhelming, given not merely the quality of the panelists, but the sheer number. With simultaneous events going virtually non-stop for Friday and Saturday, it's easy to miss some of the most insightful speakers. Here are five that you'll want to know, even if you aren't going to the conference:
Nik Bonaddio: Founder and CEO of numberFire, a company that analyzes sports statistics. Bonaddio is notable for the fact that he started the company with some of the $100,000 he won in 2009 on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
Oliver Luck: You might recognize the last name (and the answer is yes, he is Andrew Luck's father), but the former athletic director of West Virginia is more than notable in his own right. Having recently been appointed to the newly-created NCAA position of "Executive Vice President of Regulatory Affairs," Luck will be one of the foremost minds in discussion how to reform the troubled college athletics association.
Michael McCann: A professor at the University of New Hampshire School of Law, McCann has gained quite a bit of traction recently as the go-to sports legal analyst and writer. Specifically, he has become a must-read on events like the Aaron Hernandez trial in his frequent columns for Sports Illustrated.
Rachel Nichols: Most sports fans probably know who Nichols is, but the CNN reporter has become a central figure in the ongoing public opinion analysis of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. On two occasions, Nichols essentially asked the most insightful questions during press conferences with the NFL leader, getting to the heart of the problems which the league seems incapable of escaping.
Michael Niemeyer: While the name FC Bayern Munich may not carry the weight in New England that it would in many other parts of the world, make no mistake that Niemeyer's position with the juggernaut soccer club is one of the most coveted in sports analytics. Also tied to the World Cup champion German national team, Niemeyer is one of the brightest minds in the bourgeoning field of soccer analysis.
Featured image via Sloancondev, CC By SA 3.0
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