Insights into a sports revolution
MADISON, WI (March 10, 2022) — Baseball is known as a timeless pastime, but the truth is that it has changed dramatically in the past few decades — from the way teams are managed to the introduction of “wild card” playoffs. How has baseball endured and evolved over the last century? What are the major social factors that have spurred revolution in the sport? How has “bracketology” — predicting athletic outcomes based on data analysis — affected the game in recent years, and how does it work?
On the next UW Now Livestream, renowned experts on the forefront of sports and operations research will discuss the changes happening now and what to expect in the future. This in-person and virtual event will be moderated by Mike Knetter, CEO of the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association, live from the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix.
Featured Guests:
Laura Albert, PhD, is the David H. Gustafson Department Chair of Industrial and Systems Engineering at UW–Madison. Her research applies operations research methodologies to important societal applications. Her primary methodological base is discrete optimization, including integer programming and Markov decision processes. She has applied operations research methodologies to address public-sector problems related to emergency medical services, homeland security, critical infrastructure protection, public safety, and disaster response and recovery.
Bud Selig is the former commissioner of Major League Baseball. He is also the former owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, having returned the team to Wisconsin in 1970 after it moved to Atlanta in 1953. He was the second-longest-serving commissioner in Major League Baseball history and is widely credited with transforming and modernizing the game. He is the author of the book “For the Good of the Game.” Selig is also coinstructor of the UW–Madison course Baseball and Society since World War II.
Lewis Wolff ’57 is a prominent real estate developer and chairman emeritus of Oakland Athletics. Along with executive vice president Billy Beane, he has been credited with pioneering the rise of data analytics in sports talent evaluation. He has also been co-owner of the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League and the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association. Wolff served as cochairman of the board of Sunstone Investors Inc. from 2004 to 2014. He is currently a co-owner of the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer.
When: Saturday, March 12, at 5:30 p.m. CST / 4:30 p.m. MST
In Person: Arizona Biltmore
2400 E. Missouri Avenue
Phoenix, AZ
Virtual Presentation: uwalumni.com/events/baseball-and-big-data/
More Information: uwalumni.com/events/uw-now-valley-of-the-sun/
