1. Describe Bloomberg Sports' business model and sketch their value chain. How does Bloomberg Sports provide value to its customers? 2. What are Bloomberg Sports' core competencies and competitive advantages? 3. How can the competitive advantages of Bloomberg Sports and IMG be combined to maximize the value of their partnership?

Week 5 - SEE4060: Sports/Ent X Bb bloomber case study X Course Hero x tobepartou.com x how to screenshot on mac at D X + learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet02-xythos.content.blackboardcdn.com/5d01252a127d8/11634723?X-Blackboard-$3-Bucket=learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet01-xythos... Paused User Dashboard Mail - Joseph Mar... Lil Announcements -... Lili Announcements -... Announcements -... Academics - jwu.e... Announcements -... Lil Announcements -.. Announcements -... > > bloomber case study 1 / 11 100% + Bloomberg Sports: Information Overload Goes Abroad Patrick Kealy, Yatin Shastri, Francisco Battistini, Tyler Durrell, Jeong Huh, and Nola Agha University of San Francisco Bloomberg Sports uses sports analytics to create advanced decision tools for professional teams and fantasy sports users. Their success in both the business and consumer markets stems from vital partnerships with Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM), Yahoo!, ESPN, and CBSSports. In a period of increased domestic competition, Bloomberg Sports is searching for the most appropriate international growth strategy. This expansion effort recently was aided by a new joint venture with IMG. By analyzing the market, industry, competitors, and products, important decisions can be made to help Bloomberg Sports expand and grow. Keywords: sports analytics, international, growth strategy, strategic management, fantasy sports In 2009, Bloomberg Sports jumped to the forefront of the sports analytics industry by leveraging decades of experience in financial industry analytics to produce database applications for professional teams, as well as fantasy sports products for individual users. Sports analytics combines large amounts of data with lightning-fast mathematical calculations to provide powerful, efficient, and cost-effective decision tools for professional sport teams and end users. While sport analytics has seen a far-reaching expansion over the last decade due to advances in computing and the popularity of Michael Lewis's Moneyball, the full growth potential of the industry is largely unknown. Rival firms are increasingly entering the sports analytics marketplace to compete with Bloomberg's fantasy sports applications. Due the saturation of the U.S. market, Bill Squadron, President of Bloomberg Sports, must now choose the best international growth strategy; however, several questions remain: Do countries such as India have the technological infrastructure to play fantasy sports in large numbers? Can the culture of competitiveness in fantasy sports carry to fans abroad? Should the next consumer product focus on fantasy sports or legalized gambling? Is Europe or India a better market to enter with this new consumer product? Bloomberg, L.P. 3 Michael Bloomberg founded Innovative Marketing Systems in 1982 and renamed the company Bloomberg, L.P. in 1986. Bloomberg used his expertise in computer programming to create a multifunction computer terminal called "The Bloomberg Terminal" that combined projections, analytics, financial calculations, and real time data to help Wall Street firms make more educated decisions (Bodine & Rouland, 2011). Since its inception, Bloomberg has expanded from its computer software and programming roots to a more diversified portfolio including Bloomberg News, two different magazines, Bloomberg Business Radio, Bloomberg DirectTV, Bloomberg Small Business TV, Bloomberg Personal Online, and more.Week 5 - SEE4060: Sports/Ent X Bb bloomber case study X Course Hero x tobepartou.com x how to screenshot on mac at D X + a learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet02-xythos.content.blackboardcdn.com/5d01252a127d8/11634723?X-Blackboard-$3-Bucket=learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet01-xythos... * IJ Paused User Dashboard Mail - Joseph Mar... Lil Announcements -... Lili Announcements -... Announcements -... 2 Academics - jwu.e... iAnnouncements -... i Announcements -... Announcements -... > > bloomber case study 2 / 11 100% + 2 Kealy et al. Bloomberg Sports In 2009, Bloomberg leveraged their stock analysis software to connect to the world of baseball player evaluation by creating a separate division named Bloomberg Sports. Bo Moon, Cofounder and former Executive Vice President of Business Development and Product, gives a better understanding of the mission of the company by saying that Bloomberg Sports is trying "to be the leader in sports analytics for both consumers and professionals in sports." He went on to state that "The idea was vetted internally through a process of presentations to management, incremental funding of more resources, and funding over time, which eventually led to the seminal deal at a league level with MLB Advanced Media" (personal communication, September 2012). To describe the relationship between financial software and sports, Daniel Doctoroff, the CEO and President of Bloomberg L.P., said, "If you think of players as securities and teams as portfolios, then our infrastructure for managing information about securities and portfolios could be adapted to sports" (Sandomir, 2009). By 2011, Bloomberg Sports was named one of the Ten Most Innovative Companies in Sports by Fast Company, and in 2012 was selected as a finalist for Best in Sports Technology by the SportsBusiness Journal. They currently offer professional products for leagues and teams and fantasy products for individual sports fans. Professional Products When entering the sports analytics marketplace, Bloomberg Sports initially targeted Major League Baseball (MLB) 2 teams. Bloomberg Sports wanted to integrate their core competency of data evaluation with the wealth of data that is created from every baseball game. To facilitate this process, Bloomberg Sports struck a partnership with Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM). Their partnership with MLBAM has allowed them access to all the information that MLBAM gathers from each and every MLB game, including the pitch-by-pitch data from its Pitch F/X system and multiple viewing angles of the action. After securing this data, Bloomberg Sports built a platform that teams could use to draw important findings in terms of player evaluation, which includes MLB data, minor-league data, college data, international data, pitch-by-pitch data (such as velocity, location, and pitch selection), and video data from previous seasons. Furthermore, the New York Times described their user-friendly platform (see Figure 1) as "dazzlingly colorful graphics and an easy way to plot statistics and compare players in complex combinations" (Sandomir, 2009). 3 13 Pel 6 271-0 207Week 5 - SEE4060: Sports/Ent X Bb bloomber case study X Course Hero x tobepartou.com x how to screenshot on mac at D X + a learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet02-xythos.content.blackboardcdn.com/5d01252a127d8/11634723?X-Blackboard-$3-Bucket=learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet01-xythos... * IJ Paused User Dashboard Mail - Joseph Mar... Lil Announcements -.. Lili Announcements -... Announcements -... Academics - jwu.e... Announcements -... Lil Announcements -... Announcements -... > > bloomber case study 3 / 11 100% + Expansion and International Growth Strategies 3 During a 6-month trial period designed to promote their professional product, 28 of the 30 MLB teams opted to try the analysis product (Fisher, 2010). The full product sells for around six figures (Sandomir, 2009), and two teams, the Angels and the Cubs, committed even more resources to have Bloomberg Sports fully customize the platform for their needs (Bloomberg Blog, 2012). This included expanding into the mobile space so that their scouts could easily access these tools with their iPads while on the road. This mobile platform is accessible anywhere and offers players a way to prepare for their next game through customized streaming video (see Figure 2). While this product is highly lucrative, there are only a few professional sport teams that are willing to purchase this level of comprehensive analysis. Thus, Bloomberg Sports sought other means to continue their growth. Bloomberg PITCHER Jonathan Sanchez Q SIMs VS BATTER AN Buttons FRTER VIDEOS As pach tree richhow he tres He krach onBoon Coon ous PROGRESSIVE 3 I1 00:06 00.25 Read Any SPEED -+ 3/25/10 21 1out Fastban Ball in fury Ground Bad Find Out Figure 2- Bloomberg's Pitch Review (most often used by MLB players). Source: Bloomberg Sports. Products In 2012, the Medill School at Northwestern University estimated fantasy sport participation as high as 58 million (seeWeek 5 - SEE4060: Sports/Ent X Bb bloomber case study X Course Hero x tobepartou.com x how to screenshot on mac at D X + learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet02-xythos.content.blackboardcdn.com/5d01252a127d8/11634723?X-Blackboard-$3-Bucket=learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet01-xythos... * IJ Paused User Dashboard Mail - Joseph Mar... i Announcements -... Lili Announcements -... Announcements -... 2 Academics - jwu.e... iAnnouncements -... i Announcements -... Announcements -... > > bloomber case study 6 / 11 100% + 2 Synergy Sports Technology Synergy Sports Technology is a video and statistical analytics company that focuses solely on basketball. Their video- indexing statistical engine allows for clients to watch any game and search instantly for video on statistically relevant plays, such as every Kobe Bryant turnover during the past season. With relevant statistics and video of an expanding base of basketball leagues globally, including the NBA, NCAA, WNBA, NBA D-League, and numerous international leagues, Synergy Sports Technology provides basketball analytics for scouts, coaches, front offices, broadcasters, and EA Sports (Synergy Sports, 2013). TruMedia Networks 3 TruMedia Networks is a Boston-based computer-engineering firm that develops analytics software for baseball, football, and soccer. Marketed primarily to professional teams and media outlets, TruMedia provides data management, data visualization, and video clipping services. In partnership with ESPN's Stats & Info Group, TruMedia Networks developed Crossing Pattern, an analytics platform designed for football that has already been integrated by the Jacksonville Jaguars and numerous Football Bowl Subdivision teams and conferences (TruMedia Networks, 2012a). Their real-time data analysis and data visualization tools also were used by ESPN during their broadcast of EURO 2012 to create fan-friendly statistical graphics (TruMedia Networks, 2012b). Stats-Sports Solutions Group Jointly owned by the Associated Press and News Corporation, Stats collects data from over 230 leagues worldwide to generate sports content primarily for media companies. Their services include real-time data collection, historical record keeping, editorial content, and in-game broadcast presentations. Their product ICE (Interactive Collaboration and Evaluation) is an interactive coaching tool designed for personnel management, player evaluation, and game preparation (Stats, LLC, 2013). Finally, Stats also offers products geared toward companies hosting fantasy sports leagues through their fantasy game engine product. Ziguana Created in 2006, and winner of the Rookie of the Year award at the 201 1 Fantasy Sports Trade Association, Ziguana. com is a fantasy analysis company that developed analytics software to offer customers beneficial analysis and advice. Currently, they offer such features as player projections, draft guides, trade and league analysis, and match predictions. Although Ziguana currently does not have a mobile presence, their fantasy analytics service is free of charge; like Bloomberg Sports, it currently syncs with Yahoo! fantasy leagues and ESPN fantasy leagues (Ziguana, 2012). As fantasy sports have grown as an industry, so have the number of companies looking to profit off the growing number of fantasy players and their competitiveness. There are companies other than Bloomberg Sports and Ziguana that offer fantasy help products, but so far it has been the ability of Bloomberg Sports to partner up with the most trafficked sites, (e.g., MLB.com, NFL.com, Yahoo!, ESPN, and CBSSports.com) that has allowed them to gain a distinct advantage over their competition. Recent EventsWeek 5 - SEE4060: Sports/Ent X Bb bloomber case study X Course Hero x tobepartou.com x how to screenshot on mac at D X + learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet02-xythos.content.blackboardcdn.com/5d01252a127d8/11634723?X-Blackboard-$3-Bucket=learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet01-xythos... * IJ Paused User Dashboard Mail - Joseph Mar... Lil Announcements -... Lili Announcements -... Announcements -... 2 Academics - jwu.e... iAnnouncements -.. i Announcements -... Announcements -... > > E bloomber case study 7 / 11 100% + 3 Domestic Markets In January 2012, CBSSports.com announced they were moving toward an open source model where they would allow access to their fantasy sports games and data in order for external developers to build commercial products (Fisher, 2012). Bloomberg Sports was one of several companies to partner with CBSSports.com which provided unparalleled access to their user data. In response to this new revenue and data sharing platform, Bloomberg Sports will use fantasy data from CBSSports.com to improve its fantasy sports applications in both baseball (Front Office) and football (Decision Maker; Fisher, 2012). Beyond their professional and fantasy products, Bloomberg Sports also has explored additional revenue streams in the United States (Fisher, 2010); most notably, these include: This content is copyright @ 2014 Human Kinetics, Inc. and is not to be distributed, disseminated, or reproduced without permission. 70.0 871 8 Kealy et al. . Producing and releasing of original video content on their website such as "Mustrash Talk" with analyst and former MLB star Keith Hernandez. . Teaming up with RotoHog to attempt to create a fantasy sports game for Facebook. . Providing data and analysis on the scoreboard for the New York Mets. . Building a news and analysis content site called StatsInsights.com. . Building mobile apps on the iPhone for the consumer market. 16 Partnerships Bloomberg Sports struck a partnership deal in July 2012 with IMG, a global sports media and management company. The partnership involved IMG purchasing one third of Bloomberg Sports for a value rumored to be between $6-8 million (Fisher & Mickle, 2012). IMG is the world's largest producer and distributor of sports content, is a founder of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for cricket, and is involved in high-profile sports properties like the English Premier League (EPL). Bloomberg Sports President Bill Squadron served as IMG's Head of Media Interactive Operations from 2004-2006 and was instrumental in developing this new joint venture with IMG (Fisher & Mickle, 2012). ExpansionWeek 5 - SEE4060: Sports/Ent X Bb bloomber case study X Course Hero x tobepartou.com x how to screenshot on mac at D X + a learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet02-xythos.content.blackboardcdn.com/5d01252a127d8/11634723?X-Blackboard-$3-Bucket=learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet01-xythos... * IJ Paused User Dashboard Mail - Joseph Mar... Lil Announcements -... Lili Announcements -... Announcements -... 2 Academics - jwu.e... iAnnouncements -... i Announcements -... Announcements -... > > E bloomber case study 8 / 11 100% + Fantasy Sports in Europe According to Internet World Stats, as of June 2012, over 62% of the 820 million people living in Europe are connected to the Internet. This access has allowed fantasy sports to develop a market in Europe with the majority of interest, WEEKS 70.0 87.1 This content is copyright @ 2014 Human Kinetics, Inc. and is not to be distributed, disseminated, or reproduced without permission. Expansion and International Growth Strategies 9 growth, and development centered in England around the EPL. The EPL website had 2.5 million people from over 200 countries playing their EPL fantasy game in 2012 with roughly half of those players based in Europe (EPL, 2012). The EPL also has an app available for $1.99 that on September 23, 2012, a game day for the EPL, was ranked as the 6 number two most downloaded paid app in the United Kingdom (App Annie, 2012b). Similar app download analysis shows that fantasy sports apps do not reach the top ten in Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, or the Netherlands. While annual revenues in the EPL are significantly lower than most North American sports, they are significantly higher than the IPL (see Figure 6). Cricket, which is popular in England but not continental Europe, has a variety of options for fans with fantasy cricket leagues offered by The Telegraph, CricketWeb, Cricket Inc., SkySports, Fiso, and others. 9000 8000 7 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 8Week 5 - SEE4060: Sports/Ent X Bb bloomber case study X Course Hero x tobepartou.com x how to screenshot on mac at D X + a learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet02-xythos.content.blackboardcdn.com/5d01252a127d8/11634723?X-Blackboard-$3-Bucket=learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet01-xythos... * IJ Paused User Dashboard Mail - Joseph Mar... Lil Announcements -... Lili Announcements -... Announcements -... Academics - jwu.e... Announcements -... i Announcements -... Announcements -... > > E bloomber case study 8 / 11 100% + Gambling In addition to growing interest in fantasy sports, a robust and legal sports gambling industry exists in most of the WEEKS 70.0 87.1 world. Bloomberg Sports has the analytical base to create a product that would integrate information on all players in a league thereby allowing fans access to an advanced decision making tool before they place their bets. The online sports gambling industry, where a consumer would benefit from a product like this, continues to experience strong growth. In 2012, Marketline estimated the global online gambling market had a value of $33.6 billion with a compound annual growth rate estimated at nearly 8% through 2016. The sports betting segment comprises 48.9%, or $16.4 billion, of the total (see Figure 7). Geographically, nearly half of online betting originates in Europe ($16 billion) and roughly one quarter from the Asia-Pacific region ($9 billion) which includes Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand (see Figure 8). Gambling in India is highly regulated with the only legal gambling limited to lotteries, horse racing, and a few dozen casinos. Because online gambling is illegal, it is unregulated and the size of the actual industry is unknown. The legal lottery in the Indian state of Sikkim estimates the size of a regulated online gambling market, were it to happen, at around $5 billion (Business Wire, 2012). Other sources estimate the value of the overall illegal gambling market in India (online and in person) at $40 billion, half of which is attributed to cricket (Thompson, 2009). This content is copyright @ 2014 Human Kinetics, Inc. and is not to be distributed, disseminated, or reproduced without permission. 6 10 Kealy et al. 7 2.2 "Sports Betting Casino 16.4 Poker O Bingo 8Week 5 - SEE4060: Sports/Ent X Bb bloomber case study X Course Hero x tobepartou.com x how to screenshot on mac at D X + learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet02-xythos.content.blackboardcdn.com/5d01252a127d8/11634723?X-Blackboard-$3-Bucket=learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet01-xythos... Paused User Dashboard Mail - Joseph Mar... Lil Announcements -... Lil Announcements -... Announcements -... 2 Academics - jwu.e... Announcements -... i Announcements -... Announcements -... > > E bloomber case study 9 / 11 100% + 2.2 "Sports Betting 6 Casino 16.4 Poker OBingo Ill Lotteries 8.6 17 Figure 7 - Global online gambling industry segmentation by type, 201 1, in billions of USD. Source: Marketline. (2012). Online Gambling Industry Profile: Global. Data from Business Source Premier database In contrast to India, Europe has the largest online gambling market in the world. Although the method of regulation varies, gambling through casinos, lotteries, or online is legal in each European Union (EU) country. Britain legalized online gambling in 2005, and by 2010 most other EU countries followed suit, mostly in an effort to generate tax revenues to make up for the loss in revenues from land-based casinos (Pfanner, 2010). The online gambling market is still evolving as book makers must abide by different laws and tax rules in each country but European sports fans have a multitude of options for legal online sports betting. 8 Europe 16 Asia-Pacific Americas 9Week 5 - SEE4060: Sports/Ent X Bb bloomber case study X Course Hero x tobepartou.com x how to screenshot on mac at D X + learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet02-xythos.content.blackboardcdn.com/5d01252a127d8/11634723?X-Blackboard-$3-Bucket=learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet01-xythos... Paused User Dashboard Mail - Joseph Mar... Lil Announcements -... Lil Announcements -... Announcements -... 2 Academics - jwu.e... Announcements -... i Announcements -... Announcements -... > > E bloomber case study 9 / 11 100% + Europe 16 Asia-Pacific Americas OMEA 6 Figure 8 - Global online gambling industry segmentation by geography, 2011, in billions of USD. Source: Marketline. (2012). Online Gambling Industry Profile: Global. Data from Business Source Premier database. This content is copyright @ 2014 Human Kinetics, Inc. and is not to be distributed, disseminated, or reproduced without permission. 17 Expansion and International Growth Strategies 11 8 Conclusion In 2011, President Bill Squadron said: "We have focused on perfecting our baseball and football products and establishing Bloomberg's value to sports professionals and fans, and we are now beginning to look at the next sports to enter. We continue to get great interest from leagues and athletes, both domestically and internationally, eager to explore how we can enhance operations and offer fans fun, interesting products in their sports." (Big Lead Sports, 2011) Bloomberg Sports spent its first few years creating a market and perfecting its professional and fantasy products for both baseball and football. President Bill Squadron believes Bloomberg Sports succeeded on these two goals and their recent partnership with IMG signifies the company's readiness to add international growth to their business plan. 9 At this point he must make several important decisions: Should Bloomberg Sports focus their next consumer product