Sportlogiq 2019 - Year in Review

2019 was a busy year for the Sportlogiq team filled with new partnerships, a new AI Lab in Vancouver focused on predictive analytics research, and a new sport. As we continue to grow as a company, we are proud to be working with our trusted partners across four sports and continuously striving to strengthen the relationships with our pro teams, media partners, and rights holders. Here’s a look back at our year.

Game-changing partnerships

Sportlogiq Becomes the Official Insights Partner of the Canadian Premier League: Sportlogiq and the Canadian Premier League agreed to a multi-year partnership through which we became the CPL’s Official Insights Partner. The agreement saw Sportlogiq produce insights and distribute advanced analytics from every CPL match from the start of the season in April 2019.

Toronto FC Enters Innovative Analytics Partnership with Sportlogiq: in August, Sportlogiq agreed to a groundbreaking partnership with MLS Club, Toronto FC. Toronto FC are well known as pioneers in the world of performance analytics in soccer, having used a cutting-edge approach to data-driven analysis for several seasons. Their partnership with us allows them to take this approach even further, adding another dimension to the successful and wide-ranging analytics work happening within the club.

Sportlogiq Becomes the Official Statistics Partner of the National Lacrosse League: Sportlogiq and the National Lacrosse League, agreed to a multi-year partnership through which our company became the NLL’s Official Statistics Partner. This is our first official league partnership in lacrosse. 

Sportlogiq Pledges to Support Women’s Professional Hockey: with the devastating news of the folding of the CWHL, Sportlogiq aligned itself with the PWHPA and its values. This new women’s professional hockey league will have access to data consistent with the scope we provide to our NHL and SHL partners for its first 3 seasons. #ForTheGame

We’re proud to have partnered with RDS on the FIFA Women’s World Cup this summer. We provided match insights throughout the tournament to enhance their storytelling. In addition, our contextual metrics are referenced regularly throughout hockey broadcasts, and we’re trusted by prominent broadcasters like TSN, MSG, Sportsnet, and more.

Key industry events

MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference: The 2019 edition of the conference saw three of our papers published—including one finalist. Sportlogiq was a main sponsor of the event and hosted a panel featuring Christopher Boucher, our VP of Hockey. 

NeurIPS 2019: Sportlogiq was proud to sponsor and attend NeurIPS, the leading conference in machine learning and AI. This year also marked the first time Sportlogiq hosted a panel at the conference. Sportlogiq co-founder and CTO, Mehrsan Javan, moderated the panel on Explainable Reinforcement Learning featuring Oliver Schulte, Pascal Poupart and Martin Puterman. 

Our team also had a presence at other notable industry events this year: 

– Sportlogiq data analyst, Sam Gregory, presented on identifying and classifying off the ball runs in soccer at NESSIS on September 28th and Barca Sports Analytics Summit on November 14th. 

– Jens Fjellstrom, our Professional Club Consultant, gave a talk called “From Artificial Intelligence to on-pitch insights: Leveraging physical metrics from broadcast feeds” at Big Data: Future of Football on November 22nd. 

– Bahar Pourbabaee, Machine Learning Team Lead, presented her work on “Visual Perception for Better Understanding of Sport Games” at Deep Learning Summit Montreal on October 25th.

Expanding our presence

Sportlogiq opened a new AI lab in Vancouver this fall. We expanded our network of research centers, SLiQ Labs, to the west coast as part of our commitment to invest in the Canadian AI ecosystem. The new lab will conduct machine learning research in descriptive and predictive analytics, with a focus on sports.

We’re proud of what was accomplished by our team, and can’t wait to see the possibilities 2020 holds. See you in the New Year! 

Follow us on Twitter @Sportlogiq to see what we have planned for the new year.