Computer Vision in the Business of Sports

What is your approach in looking for application areas for computer vision? There is certainly the desire to work in areas that are meaningful and even patriotic. You might even explore other fields that are close to your heart. But, with the current economic slowdown, you might want to follow the money when you explore new vision applications.

Consider the business of sports, for example. This is a multi-billion dollar global industry with loyal consumer demand. Not counting the gambling aspects of sports, money flows well between corporate sponsors and advertisers. There are extensive marketing campaigns set around the individual athletes, feeding media-hungry fans with news, advertising, and other content in various medium (radio, television, Internet).

There’s even a business surrounding the selection of athletes. Consider the NBA draft, for example. Every year, the NBA teams select players into their team in a very much hyped fanfare. The coveted number one pick, no doubt, gets great media coverage as well as the potential for corporate sponsorships. But how do we know if a player is good? In team sports, how do we know if the player is a team player?

Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, recently presented a challenge for developers of video annotation and gesture recognition to improve the sport statistics mechanisms. Computer vision can analyze how athletes are performing as well as their potential for improvement. It can automatically analyze match-ups between opponents, and even recommend high percentage shots in various positions and court locations.

We are certainly not replacing coaches with computer vision, but we could simplify their jobs. In the same way, we are not replacing the sport scouts, but we are certainly giving them new tools. What’s next? We could simplify the referee’s jobs. Perhaps one day, they won’t get booed for making the wrong call. Computer vision would do the analysis in real time.