NEW YORK — Feb. 20, 2024 — Today the National Football League announced the finalists for the sixth annual Big Data Bowl powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS). The yearly sports analytics competition hosted by the NFL Football Operations Data and Analytics team allows members of the data analytics community to contribute to the NFL’s expanding world of advanced statistics and new metrics. This year’s Big Data Bowl participants are eligible for $100,000 in prize money, with each finalist receiving $12,500 and runners-up receiving $5,000.
The 2024 Big Data Bowl theme is focused on analyzing tackling performance across the NFL. Finalists in the competition were given access to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats (NGS) from Week 1 through Week 9 of the 2022 NFL season, analyzing metrics such as location, speed and acceleration of all 22 players on the field for any given play. This year’s competitors submitted over 300 submissions, a record for the Big Data Bowl.
This year’s competition will conclude with an in-person event at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine presented by NOBULL in Indianapolis on Wednesday, Feb. 28, with the five finalists competing for an additional $12,500 in prize money. The keynote speaker of the event will be Mike Fitzgerald, vice president of research and development and assistant general manager with the Arizona Diamondbacks, who will discuss how to implement modern data science and analytical tools in professional sports organizations.
“The Big Data Bowl continues to spearhead innovation in football analytics and has caught on as the preeminent worldwide sports data science competition,” said Michael Lopez, senior director of football data & analytics, strategy & business intelligence at the NFL. “We are lucky each year to have such enthusiastic and talented participants who can help us grow and learn about the game.”
Since 2017, the NFL has been proud to utilize AWS’s machine learning and data analytics services to develop new insights via the NGS platform that continually reshape the league and change how fans experience the game. In past years, the Big Data Bowl has generated innovative metrics in the play of offensive and defensive linemen, special teams strategy and pass coverage.
“We continue to be impressed by the passion and skill of participants in the Big Data Bowl,” said Julie Souza, head of sports at AWS. “This competition unites the brightest minds in data science and we can’t wait to see the impact this year’s event will have on the future of football.”
The Big Data Bowl has continued to be a strong pipeline for data scientists looking to begin a career in the sports analytics industry. More than 50 Big Data Bowl contestants have been hired in the sports data and analytics field, with over 30 of those participants being hired by NFL clubs and player-tracking vendors.
For the sixth straight year, the Big Data Bowl featured a mentorship program. This partnership led to outstanding results, with two previous mentees being named 2024 honorable mentions. For the second year, a new coaching-centric track was implemented, which encouraged coaches to partner with data scientists on a submission. Three of our finalists are women in this year’s contest which is the highest on record.
