There’s an old saying in sports, “Stats don’t tell the whole story.” Players and coaches have long understood that, which is why they prefer watching tape to simply reading stat sheets. Was that dropped pass really a dropped pass, or was the ball uncatchable? The running back had 2 fumbles, but both were sloppy handoffs. The kicker choked on the game winning field goal… but wait, the laces were in! All of those little details don’t show up on a stat sheet, which is why video is so important.
When I was the Director of Data Products for the NFL, I interacted regularly with all 32 NFL teams. Although the coaching departments had all of the tools necessary to break down film for upcoming opponents, there were often video requests from them and other departments based on multiple metrics. For example, someone in Player Personnel would call up and say, “Can we get video for wide receivers under 26-years-old, who played in at least 60% of offensive plays, with a scouting grade of ‘above average,’ who are in the last year of their contract?” That type of request combines scouting information, contract information, and player personnel information. Unfortunately, such requests were challenging to fulfill immediately because often those data sets existed on separate platforms. We couldn’t just combine them into a single search to identify and pull the associated video. Instead, multiple departments had to get involved (IT, Player Personnel, Scouting) and request an Excel sheet with a list of player names, then take that list over to the Video Director who pulled the corresponding video clips. And if there were any changes made to the list (and there were always changes), the entire process had to begin over again.
When we started RockDaisy, we set out to alter that paradigm. By integrating video across multiple platforms simultaneously, we put information into the hands of the people who need it most. Scouts and Executives can swiftly and easily pull video based on a diverse set of criteria, like in the earlier example. This leads to greater efficiency on both ends, saving time for the Scout/Executive while also freeing the IT Department and Video Director to focus on their core functions.
We get a ton of positive feedback on the accessibility of our product — how simple it is to navigate, even for the non-technical user. Front office and scouting departments now enjoy quick access to their video assets. Thanks to RockDaisy, that video is right at their fingertips.
A major component of the tech revolution has been the streamlining of processes — turning painstaking tasks into simple and efficient ones. RockDaisy’s data platform accomplishes exactly that — addressing the main sticking points of data collection/analysis head on to make everyone’s job that much easier.
