Sports Engineers: Powering Sports through Actionable Data

"Take control of your sports data, you have the game, we have the tools...”—Jan van Eck.

These words are the foundation for the philosophy of Sports Engineers, which is one of the first solution provider in amateur (grassroots) sports data distribution and commercialization. Today, sports organizations need access to accurate and updated sports data to carry out effective planning that will eventually allow a sport to grow and broaden its fanbase. Perfecting the blend of sports and technology for nearly two decades is Sports Engineers, a Netherlands-based privately-held company that has the passion for sports and strives to bring the best for federations, clubs, players and sponsors, alike. “With our unique approach and customized solutions, we make sports organizations aware of the value of data. We also allow them to control the sports data and get more actionable insights,” says Jan van Eck, co-founder of Sports Engineers. “With us, federations can create, plan, and manage attractive flexible competitions in which people can participate.”

As people shy away from committing themselves to traditional leagues/tournaments mostly due to changing lifestyles and increasing scarcity of time, sports organizations need to adapt to the fast-changing digital environment while meeting the social demands of players. While outdated IT solutions and software cast a shadow over decision-making, the inability to mobilize funds adds to the woes. Putting an end to these impediments, Sports Engineers offers solutions that facilitate a seamless shift from outdated to new technology for all stakeholders. A case in point is the recent success of Sports Engineersin creating a league management platform in partnership with Tennis Australia.

Competitions Manager for Tennis Australia

Working in close collaboration with the governing body for the sport of tennis in Australia, Sports Engineers tailored its League Management solution, to the specific, localised needs of its players and other stakeholders. The overall goal: to engage people for various types of play— league, tournament, challenge or social play— by recording every single match in a straightforward way, while the administrators would see the required time to set up or manage competitions drastically decrease. Having all matches registered allows Tennis Australia to optimise the rankings, through which, the players are classified into different levels, allowing them to play against competitive opponents.

The League Management solution provides a role-based interface, starting with real time and interactive insights and statistics, and giving fine-grained control of all aspects of play. Additionally, the system allows administrators to further lower their workload by optionally delegating tasks to players themselves; letting the players decide among themselves when or where to play, or through a submit-and-confirm score entry process.

Finally, letting players subscribe themselves for a competition and pay the entry fees, further eases the administration.

Tournaments, where players play more matches in a shorter period of time, need no further explanation, even though running them smoothly presents challenges for seeding or substituting players that the system easily covers. Looking towards the future where players are increasingly involved in lesser structured play, the social play and challenge ladders are gaining popularity. Social play is a competition where the fixtures are generated on the fly by the administrator, depending on the number and level of the players present. Alternatively, challenge ladders consist of a group of players of the same level, where a player can improve or defend his classification when challenged for a match during the season.

SportsAds Shortlisted for Best Technology for Sports Commerce 2018

While the leagues and tournaments comprise a major part of the sports industry, clubs are plagued with the lack of funds. Identifying this challenge, Sports Engineers introduced SportsAds—an intelligent software solution, which empowers the sports industry to optimize their advertising potential, at all levels of stakeholdership. As sports organizations are continuously taking ownership of their digital channels, they can easily add, manage and integrate advertisements. Via a central role of the federation we create a sports advertisement network for (club) sponsors, clubs and federations. The advertising space available is divided between the federation and the club, where the club benefits additionally from 50 percent of the advertisements of the federation as an additional source of revenue. A unique case study is the company’s association with the KNVB (The Royal Dutch Football Association) who connected the advertisers with clubs with the aim to create a national sports advertising network, in return for views and clicks that generate ROI. As the outcome, the association generated in 1 year over 500 million impressions via corporate KNVB and club channels (website, app and canteen television). Since 2017, Sports Engineers brought together 600 clubs into an intertwined profit-bearing network. The Sports Technology Awards 2018 has shortlisted SportsAds for the Best Technology for Sports Commerce.

As an organization that prevents players, federations, clubsand sponsors from breaking a sweat for administrative tasks, the road ahead for Sports Engineers is laden with opportunities and goals. On the forefront is the plan to build a new player center where tennis players can find the type of play they desire. Currently operating in Europe, Australia, Japan and Korea, Sports Engineers aims to extend their value to a wider audience at the global stage.