The San Jose Earthquakes have struck a deal with Second Spectrum to use its artificial intelligence and player tracking technologies to improve the fan experience and better coach players.
As part of the deal, Second Spectrum will leverage the soccer tracking system it already has at Avaya Stadium to create new content and experiences for Quakes fans by extracting player and game data. The team did not elaborate on what that content or those experiences might look like.
Also using that data, Second Spectrum will provide game videos with data overlays and performance indicators to players, delivering video to their mobile phones on the same day as the match for review purposes.
“Working with Second Spectrum is a great opportunity for our club, because we are opening a new chapter in video analysis and machine learning,” Earthquakes general manager Jesse Fioranelli said in a statement Friday. “What the technology allows us to do is teach a machine how to read the game the way a coach does and helps players and coaches identify the game objectives that we want to stand for, in real-time.”
Second Spectrum uses artificial intelligence to build systems that can “see” the game and learn from it, almost as though the game is being viewed and analyzed by a professional coach. Its machine learning and AI component goes a step further, however, by drawing conclusions that a human alone might miss.
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For example, the machine can understand the space created by a particular off-ball run, break down specific offensive and defensive tactics, and develop a measure of expected goals that takes into account every action occurring on the pitch.
Fioranelli said this will be the first fully-implemented system of its kind in soccer, though Second Spectrum’s technology has been implemented across a few other leagues, notably the NBA. Second Spectrum was part of a multi-million dollar data deal struck between the NBA and Sportradar late last year.
The Golden State Warriors have used its technology since the 2014-15 season to better coach their players and have since won two NBA championships. Today, more than three-quarters of NBA teams, as well as multiple European football leagues, use Second Spectrum software and services.
NEWS: #Quakes74 partner with @SecondSpectrum for artificial intelligence and machine learning.
: https://t.co/5Co20E2kqc | #ForwardAsOne pic.twitter.com/dWjDZa0Eog
— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) July 21, 2017