Opening Day is here! Every game experience at the ball park is memorable for my family. I'm excited to smell the fresh popcorn and peanuts. I love holding cold drinks in hopes of catching a foul ball with my cup. I’m anxious to see my team’s new prospects in action against the division rival’s ace pitcher. And my son gets so excited to keep stats on his favorite player, especially when he hits a home run.
Statistics has been a part of baseball for decades. Many baseball fans record pitching and hitting stats as a past-time during the game. And teams have been advancing their use of player statistics for years. Now, teams are even keeping stats on their own fans.
Many new technologies help teams collect information about the fan experience while at the ball park, and teams use that information to build better game day experiences for every fan.
If I had the time, I would bring my son to every game possible. But like most fans, I don't have the time to visit the ball park all 81 home games in a season. I know my game selection is limited, and there are many fans just like me looking for the best games and game times to fit their lifestyle.
Teams now use analytics to anticipate what games I will be interested in attending. Plus, teams are more aware of the sequence of games each of their fans might attend. Understanding the patterns of game attendances provides great insight into the games that are commonly associated. Predictive analytics can identify games with a confident level of affinity, called game affinity analysis.
Game affinity analysis helps your team to recommend the best multi-game ticket package to you and other fans. I can appreciate a ticket package of games personalized to my family interests. Can't you?
The New York Mets use SAS for sports to help analyze their data and improve the fan experience. Game affinity analysis is a new popular technique used as part of the SAS for sports solution.
As for me, I've bought a ticket to the opening day game the past few years and my team sent me a great ticket package including this game. So for this opening day game, I'm really looking forward to spending time with my family and getting to know my team. And it's great to know that my team is also taking time to get to know me. Let’s play ball!
