So, Do Analytics Actually Work?

Counterpoints: The Sports Analytics Podcast from MIT Sloan Management Review

In this week’s episode, we take on a question that could lead to an existential crisis for this very podcast: How much of a difference do analytics actually make? We’d better hope the answer is that analytics make a big difference. The emergence of sports analytics has spawned quite an industry already, and it promises a great deal of growth still to come. We don’t want to be overly dramatic, but there are jobs on the line. Nevertheless, we have a duty on this podcast to take on the hard questions. Analytics naysayers and doubters abound. Do they know something that true believers have failed to see, either willfully or otherwise? Could Charles Barkley be right? Are analytics simply a baseless conceit created by a bunch of nerds so they could get jobs in sports and, you know, dates? Analytics expert and author Ben Alamar returns to help seek out proof that analytics do lead to improved results.