Sports Innovation Institute Podcast

Dr. David Pierce sits down with Bryan Kryder, co-founder and CEO of Right Hand, to talk about their experiences with using high-impact practices in sport management at IU Indianapolis. The duo focuses on the practice of using capstone classes to partner with industry organizations in an effort to solve problems to build student resumes as they head into the job market. High Impact Practices at IU Indianapolis: https://getengaged.indianapolis.iu.edu/faculty-and-staff/taxonomies/index.html The SII Blog: https://blogs.iu.edu/iuindysii

Dr. Jessica Braunstein-Minkove discusses the special edition of the Sports Innovation Journal on Engaged Learning with Dr. Geoff Sherman in the latest episode of the Sports Innovation Podcast.

The IUPUI Sports Innovation Institute and the Center for Sports Transformation in Indianapolis partnered to create an innovative solution that will build local sports leadership capacity to create health sport communities. Dr. Wade Gilbert from Cal State-Fresno, Mike Mossbrucker from Mooresville High School, and Dr. David Pierce from the IUPUI Sports Innovation Institute talked about their collaborative effort to build leaders within the sport community in Mooresville, Indiana. Their project offers a solution to the critical problems that exist in youth sports today.

Dr. James Johnson and Dr. David Pierce discuss their research in the Sports Innovation Journal article entitled "Are We Punishing Success? An Evaluation of the Indiana Tournament Success Factor and Implications for Interscholastic Policy".

Dr. Tim Koba of High Point University recently sat down and talked about his research in the Sports Innovation Journal on venture capital and private equity in sport businesses.

In the latest episode of the Sports Innovation Podcast, Chris Scroggins, co-founder of EDGE Consulting and instructor within the Shenandoah University Esports program joins us to talk about the gaming industry, what EDGE Consulting provides, the Esports venue at Shenandoah University and how they have built their Esports program.

IUPUI graduate student Aydan Koyles joined the Sports Innovation Podcast to talk about his research with the IUPUI Sports Innovation Institute, what he sees as critical for students to know coming out of college, and what his inspirations include.

In today's episode, Dr. Bradley Baker of Temple University discusses his research team's work on NFTs and how they are impacting the sport industry. Check out the Sports Innovation Journal entry at https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/sij/article/view/25636.

Co-founders of Upper Hand, CEO Kevin MacCauley and Chief of Product Myles Grote, joined the SII podcast to talk about their company as well as innovation trends in sport before and after the pandemic. Upper Hand makes running studios, facilities, and academies easier by empowering businesses to stand out from the crowd. Check out their website getupperhand.com to learn more.

Techstars Senior Project Manager Andrew Hippert joined the SII podcast to talk about their sports accelerator located here in Indianapolis. Hippert starts by explaining first what an accelerator means for a start-up business and why Techstars decided to base their sports accelerator in Indianapolis. Hippert then gives a walkthrough on what company applicants can expect if they join the accelerator. Do you need more than just an idea or do you need to have at least a minimally viable product? Trends in sports tech are discussed to try and figure out if these areas are scalable business ideas for entrepreneurs. Learn more about the Techstars Sports Accelerator Powered by Indy here: https://www.techstars.com/accelerators/indy-sports

SII Director Dr. David Pierce and RefReps founder Kyle Armstrong recently joined the SII podcast to discuss the growing concern of a shortage of sports officials. Dr. Pierce's class managed a project and case study which he outlines in the episode explaining the issue and Armstrong discusses what his new company has done to change the game of sports officiating. RefReps has designed a technology stack which incorporates numerous angles of “real game” video, including first-person views of the game most have never seen before. Paired with motion tracking, and an educational experience that’s second to none, RefReps puts users in the middle of the game. They can experience, first-hand, what it’s like to make split-second decisions in the heat of the moment— THEN, learn how it’s done properly. Learn more and see a video display of the company at www.RefReps.com.

NCAA Vice President of Basketball Dan Gavitt joins the SII podcast to discuss the 2021 March Madness basketball tournament, which will be entirely played in the Indianapolis area. After speaking about the tournament logistics the conversation turns to what innovation is needed to advance the game of basketball and what Gavitt thinks might need studied to do so.

Dr. Armin Marquez joined the SII podcast to talk about the recent publication in the Sports Innovation Journal, "Factors Affecting Leaders’ Adoption of Innovation: The Case of Digital Ticketing in the High School Athletic Space." Download the paper here: https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/sij/article/view/24342/23443 Abstract. In an environment where technologies continuously evolve, we must seek to understand how sport professionals evaluate innovation. The purpose of this study is to identify critical factors influencing sport organization leaders’ decisions to adopt a technological innovation as the best strategy to gain efficiencies. We explore the factors influencing sport managers’ evaluation of technological innovations: prior conditions (i.e., need identification and individual innovativeness), perceived characteristics of the technology (i.e., relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability), and situational constructs (i.e., trust and cost) have on leaders’ decision to adopt or reject a given tool. The context of this study was high school athletic directors (N = 628) and their decision to adopt or reject digital ticketing as the best course of action for securing revenue and serving their event attendees. From a theoretical perspective, we extend the conceptual model proposed by Rogers’ diffusion of innovations theory to include situational constructs, which provide future explorations of technology adoption with the flexibility to account for specific complexities of the situation considered within a wide range of sport settings. From a managerial standpoint, the insights are valuable to companies and professionals developing and promoting innovative technologies.

Researcher Chad Gobert joins the SII podcast to talk about his new paper in the Sports Innovation Journal titled Augmented Reality in Sport Marketing. The augmented reality (AR) market is expected to grow to $60.55 billion by 2023 and there are currently an estimated 4.2 billion AR-capable devices in the hands of consumers. Experts believe that sport is a high-value market for AR as it is uniquely positioned to utilize AR in multiple marketing contexts (Haber, 2019). The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the rate at which sport organizations are utilizing AR as they attempt to reach fans and consumers that are limited or restricted from attending events in person. This article introduces augmented reality to sport managers and practitioners and defines AR, detailing how it can be used by citing examples of how it has been used in sport marketing to this point. Download the Full Paper Here: https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/sij/article/view/24227

Researcher Heather J. Lawrence, PhD joined the IUPUI Sports Innovation Institute podcast to discuss the recently published SIJ article Applying Activity-Based Costing to Intercollegiate Athletics. Current accounting methods in intercollegiate athletics make it difficult for leaders to assess and understand the true cost of each sport team operations. Institutional and athletics leaders often make decisions concerning sport sponsorship/offerings, budget allocations, overall program operations, and review Title IX compliance based on information that may not truly capture the cost of each sport. Additionally, intercollegiate athletics reform groups and the federal government are calling for athletic departments to report more consistent, accurate, and transparent financial data. The purpose of this paper is to respond to the call for accounting reform in intercollegiate athletics via an innovative application of activity-based costing (ABC) to one NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) athletics department. ABC was applied to the athletic department budget report with results showing how previously established ABC cost drivers for intercollegiate athletics (Lawrence, Gabriel, & Tuttle, 2010) and reallocation of expenses back to specific sports allow for a greater understanding of the cost of each sport.

Sports Innovation Institute Director David Pierce joined the podcast to discuss the new IUPUI research article written in partnership with Grand Park Sports Campus.  COVID-19 has impacted all areas of life, and youth sports is no exception. States and counties are publishing their own unique guidelines for permitting youth sports to return over designated phases, creating a patchwork of guidelines and dates for returning to practice and games. Governing bodies, sports facilities, and event operators are creating modifications and adaptations for participants and spectators to ensure a safe environment. The SII and Grand Park Sports collaborated to better understand how COVID-related adaptations are perceived by parents, athletes, coaches, officials, and administrators. The results provide youth sports facilities and event operators with data on how specific adaptions are received by these stakeholders who are looking to return to youth sports in a timely, but safe manner. Twelve adaptations were identified from a review of documents prepared by states, governing bodies, trade associations, media reports, and feedback from industry and academic experts. The survey reached a national audience that represents the landscape of youth sports. A total of 10,359 people from 45 states completed the entire survey, representing at least 13 different sports. Download the Full Paper Here: https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/sij/article/view/24144/23082

Authors Michael Naraine and Liz Wanless joined the podcast to discuss their recently accepted paper in the Sports Innovation Journal. The sport industry has become increasingly more complex with the expanse of digital technology such as fiber optic internet access, 5G wireless communication, and blockchain, just to name a few. These advancements have shifted the amount and variety of data produced and available for analysis by sport organizations. Yet, sport organization front offices remain well behind other industry segments in regard to handling, processing, and analyzing the volume and variety of data to advance business objectives. In this brief, the authors introduce the notion of artificial intelligence (AI) to sport management. While AI, as a concept, has been discussed for more than 50 years, this article provides a definition and overview of its historical trajectory for sport managers. Concurrently, the article also identifies the value proposition for AI capability, notably the natural language processing across four customer-centered domains. Integration challenges are also addressed for sport organizations as they seek to increase their digital competence, achieve competitive advantage through technical innovations, and ultimately become more efficient in a data-driven world. Download the Full Paper: https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/sij/article/view/23898/23075

The success of an athletic program is often defined by wins and losses. According to the sporting success framework (De Bosscher et al., 2006) as well as the athlete development literacy (ADL) model (Livengood et al., 2015), athlete development contributes to athletic achievement. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between athlete development personnel resources and winning success at NCAA Division I institutions. A total of 150 universities were included in this study. Utilizing the ADL model (Livengood et al., 2015) of personal and player development literacies, athletic department personnel selected for this study included academic advisors, athletic trainers, doctors, learning specialists, nutritionists, mental health professionals, physical therapists, sport psychologists, and strength and conditioning coaches. Winning success was measured using the final 2017-18 Learfield IMG Directors’ Cup standings (Directors’ Cup, 2019). The results suggest that athletic trainers, learning specialists, and sport psychologists significantly contributed to winning success. As such, athletic departments should appropriately invest in athlete development specialists. Download the Full Paper: https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/sij/article/view/23755/23069

As sport management pedagogy has evolved, an effort has been made to incorporate popular and innovative social media technologies into classroom instruction. Academic research has suggested how the technology can be utilized to provide real-world skills for students and develop proficiencies in an area where many sport management graduates find employment. Notable among the recommendations about social media use by sport management scholars is a lack of research testing the efficacy of these tools in improving curricula. The current study relied on the recommendations of Sanderson and Browning (2015) to use the social media site Twitter to create online partnerships, testing both the results of the in-class project and the perceived benefits of such an arrangement through end-of-semester surveys with student participants. While the survey data show a true partnership may be difficult to realize - particularly during a single semester - the benefits of such an assignment were clearly articulated. Download Full Paper: https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/sij/article/view/23830/23039

Participation in sport has been lauded for the myriad benefits provided to youth who engage. Similarly, attendance in school has been identified as a salient contributor to academic success. Thus, the purpose of the present study, was to explore the extent to which participation in youth representative hockey in Ontario contributes to avoidable absences from traditional school contexts. Specifically, empirical data from 104 youth rep hockey tournaments, ranging from AE-AAA competitive levels, and the Tyke(y-year-olds) to Midget (17-year-olds)age ranks were utilized to meet the study's first purpose. The second purpose was to present an alternative and innovative way youth sport tournaments could be scheduled to minimize school absenteeism. The results of the current investigation show there is merit to the proposed shift in tournament scheduling. Specifically, more than 42,000 avoidable school absences, from the 104 tournaments sampled, could be mitigated with a simple adjustment to tournament schedules. Download Full Paper: https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/sij/article/view/23385/23017

Dr. Nick Elam is a Ball State professor focusing on educational leadership. But if you watched the NBA All-Star game this season you may have heard or seen his namesake trending on Twitter. The Elam Ending, a term coined by The Basketball Tournament, an annual $2 million prized basketball tournament on ESPN, is a way to make the ending of a game more competitive as opposed to intentional fouling to try and drag out the clock and hope the other team misses free throws. In this episode of the SII podcast, Dr. Elam shares the 15 year journey of his idea to improve the game of basketball and where he thinks it will go from here. Host Travis Smith asks Dr. Elam's opinions on new trends in innovating sports, such as NASCAR's stage formula and the XFL's new kickoff and extra point formats.

Next up on the IUPUI Sports Innovation Institute podcast is a conversation with Dr. Cheri Bradish from Canada's Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario. Dr. Bradish is the Director of the Future of Sport Lab, which is the focus of this episode. Dr. Bradish explains the concept of both incubators and accelerator programs and, in doing so, discusses the importance of having a community and network of sport innovators as more companies look to be entrepreneurial in the sport industry.  The Future of Sport Lab (FSL) is a collaborative lab and incubator for sport innovation and research. The lab is a vision supported and co-managed by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), one of the world’s premier sport and entertainment companies, and Ryerson University, Canada’s most vibrant educational institution. The objective of the FSL is to be Canada’s global leader in sport innovation, creating a sport ecosystem anchored by innovation and entrepreneurship, that will connect premier Canadian sport properties, industry partners, experts, faculty and students. FSL fosters innovative sport solutions and technologies as well as related insights and programming across a variety of disciplines, from fan engagement to sport science. Sports Innovation Journal: https://sii.iupui.edu/Research/sports-innovation-journal/index.html

The Sports Innovation Institute welcomed Dr. Dave Schrader to campus in September, where he spoke to a group of students about sports analytics projects. Afterwards, Dr. Dave joined the podcast for a wide-ranging conversation on the subject, including his favorite student projects at different colleges and how to strategically start the conversation with athletic directors about adding an analytics unit to the department.

SII jumped on the phone with Adam White (CEO) and Russ Wilde (COO) of Front Office Sports, an up and coming sports business media outlet. Adam started FOS when he was still in college as a way to reach those professionals in the sports industry by doing informational interviews and asking them about their career path. Front Office Sports is known for their creative products and events, such as the Huddle Series and Shot Callers. In this episode of the SII podcast listeners will hear the design-thinking process of building, sustaining, and growing Front Office Sports. If you are thinking of finding a way to stick out to prospective employers or you need some motivation to get creative on your startup idea, take a listen and learn.

Dr. Galen Clavio, Director of the National Sports Journalism Center, and Andrew Rosner, Assistant Athletic Director for Creative Services, from Indiana University sat down with the Sports Innovation Institute podcast for an in-person tour of the Mark Cuban Center for Sports and Technology inside Assembly Hall. Well-known Indiana alum shark tank investor and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, provided a gift to the Hoosiers athletic department that has allowed Indiana University students access to the most innovative and cutting-edge technology in the sports industry. To learn more about the Mark Cuban Center for Sports Media and Technology follow their twitter account @CubanCenter.

Silbo CEO and Co-Founder Brendan Szulik spoke with the SII podcast to discuss how they're trying to fix the amateur sports officiating crisis going on right now across America. Silbo is a digital marketplace directly connecting sports officials with amateur sports games. Traditionally, the process of recruiting, scheduling, and paying sports officials was analog, inefficient, opaque, and resulted in a fragmented supply of referees. Nearly 10% of games nationwide are being cancelled due to a shortage of officials. Silbo is on a mission to improve amateur sports. Silbo connects game providers and officials simply and conveniently, while also developing the next generation of sports officials. Silbo built a game-changing technology to advocate for officials' wages, working conditions, and scheduling; provide more opportunities for sports officials nationwide; and train and activate the next generation of sports officials. To learn more about Silbo visit www.Silbo.ai