Premier League club Brentford has announced a partnership with Genius Sports, a leading sports data and technology company. The collaboration aims to enhance the club's in-stadium and social media content by adding augmented highlights.
This deal marks the first time that Genius Sports has partnered with an individual football club. The company already serves as the official tracking data and analytics partner for the Premier League as a whole. As part of this new agreement, various data-driven enhancements will be added to Brentford's highlights, including shot speeds, shot trails, player names, and pitch maps.
In addition to these features, Gtech’s logo - Brentford stadium naming rights sponsor - will be prominently displayed above the goals in all augmented clips.
Leveraging Dragon technology for new era in data science
The enhancements will be made possible through Genius' Dragon technology. This advanced system is already deployed across Premier League stadiums due to its existing partnership with the league.
Steve Watts, marketing services director at Brentford, said:
“Everything we do at Brentford is through a fan-first perspective. Whilst we rate highly for matchday experience, we are always looking at ways we can improve and add something a little different when attending a game at the Gtech. As a club that owes much to a data-driven approach, we wanted to meet the appetite for fans who are also extremely interested in this aspect of the game. We think the additional analysis will be enjoyed by the majority of fans whether attending in person or post-match on socials.”
Dragon technology captures 10,000 surface mesh data points per player over 200 times per second during every Brentford game. It then applies computer vision techniques to combine this rich tracking data with broadcast video in real-time.
Enhanced viewing experience for fans
The integration of Dragon technology into Brentford's content strategy promises an enriched viewing experience for fans both at home and in-stadium. By providing context to every play through detailed visualizations such as shot trails or pitch maps overlaid on match footage, fans can gain deeper insights into their team’s performance.
Moreover, by embedding Gtech’s logo within these augmented clips not only enhances brand visibility but also offers unique advertising opportunities that could potentially attract more sponsors in future.
Brentford's partnership with Genius Sports signifies an exciting step forward in how football clubs leverage sports analytics and technology to engage their fan base more effectively. By offering enhanced highlights complete with detailed data visualizations, Brentford is setting a new standard for fan engagement in the Premier League. This innovative approach could potentially inspire other clubs to follow suit, ushering in a new era of data-driven fan engagement in football.
