The US Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT) has not only been a dominant force on the soccer field but has also spearheaded efforts to grow the game of women’s soccer both nationally and globally. The strategic application of business intelligence (BI) is a key component to their success. Let’s explore various ways the USWNT and US Soccer are utilizing analytics to stay at the forefront of soccer on and off the field.
Performance Optimization: It’s fairly commonplace for sports organizations to utilize data analysis to improve player performance. The USWNT is no different. In 2018 the USWNT created a new department called the High Performance support team. This department is made up of 3 sub groups – sports medicine, sports science and, our favorite, performance analysis. Performance analysis works with data to optimize in-game performance, find possible exploits in opposing teams, and provide pre-game insights. The sub group provides ”real, quantifiable evidence of data and player performance to hopefully help make those decisions easier.”
US Soccer has also partnered with STATSports. Together, they have a goal to gather data on up to 4 million players using the company’s Apex monitoring devices. Coaches will be able to measure individual responses to training. This data could help identify players that are inadvertently being undertrained while preventing possible injury from overtraining. Amazing things are obviously ahead.
Identifying New Talent Hotspots: US Soccer is beginning to capture data at the youth level. As this data increases, coaches and scouts will be able to locate higher-level talent sooner and more accurately. There is hope that US Soccer could also identify untapped talent hotspots and encourage development in those areas providing new opportunities through nurturing future soccer stars.
Fan Engagement and Personalized Experiences: US Soccer is actively trying to improve fan engagement. One example is their strategic partnership with Braze. With this endeavor they were able to bolster the paid insider subscriptions by 43% while also increasing their open email rate by 20%. Ross Moses, Senior Director of Analytics, states that “the marketing technologies we implement AND keep are generally the ones that provide three things: business intelligence, automation, and personalization.” Their strategy is clearly working as enhanced fan engagement has lead to increased brand loyalty, additional merchandise purchases, all the while amplifying the team’s global impact.
The USWNT has a huge opportunity with its business intelligence program to stay ahead in women’s soccer for years to come. Here at ConradBI, we can help your company be champions of your data and keep you ahead of the game as well. Get ahead of the pack – kickstart your BI program today!
