A press release just popped up promoting the Sports Analytics Innovation Summit in March 26 and 27 in London. The release makes the interesting point that elite athletics are in an entirely different realm when it comes to wearables than consumers.
Basically, our Fuelbands and Fitbits are just oh so cute to powerhouses like Chelsea FC and Red Bull professional soccer. The pros can use detailed GPS and body motion sensors to learn lots more about how teams and athletes perform in practice and in games — and how performance changes over time.
It’s not such a big leap to see how data like this could even come into play in negotiating contracts, if it can be used to illustrate whether an athlete has learned new skills or his flexibility and performance are subtly degrading.
