The ITAO Department is pleased to announce a new Master of Science in Business Analytics focused on Sports Analytics. This is a natural fit for the University of Notre Dame with its deep connection to collegiate athletics, and also for the Mendoza College of Business with the GAMA Lab (Gaming Analytics & Business Research Lab) and new Ph.D. offerings in Analytics and Management.

There is no better time for us to embark on this journey — the stars are aligned with both ITAO’s analytical strength and Notre Dame’s athletic excellence.

The MSBA in Sports Analytics offers the same baseline instruction in business analytics as the standard MSBA while using required courses in sports and human performance analytics in place of electives. Other coursework will emphasize either front-office (e.g., ticketing, pricing, fan experience, etc.) or athletic performance analytics problems where such examples are applicable. Many aspects of this program align with our imperative to Grow the Good in Business, such as using analytics in human performance to predict and prevent injury or to maximize wellness.

This program requires the same rigor and provides the same degree that is currently offered through our MSBA-Chicago and MSBA residential programs. With its focus on sports analytics, we anticipate attracting a number of post-graduate and graduate-transfer student athletes. Therefore, we developed the program to be delivered across a full year that starts in the summer session. We also arranged classes to avoid early mornings and later afternoons to minimize scheduling conflicts for student athletes. We anticipate launching the program this summer (2022) if we have sufficient student enrollment.

Assistant Teaching Professor Brandon Erlacher will serve as the Academic Director of MSBA-Sports Analytics. In addition to teaching, Brandon has experience helping brands find and communicate insights, optimize customer journeys, design digital products and personalize customer experiences to drive engagement and conversions. He is a Double-Domer with both an EMBA and an MSBA earned as part of the first MS in Business Analytics cohort in Chicago.

In this program, Assistant Teaching Professor Martin Barron will provide courses on Machine Learning, Sports Analytics and Human Performance Analytics. Martin earned both his M.S. and Ph.D. in Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics (ACMS) at Notre Dame, working with statistical machine learning techniques. A native of Dublin, Ireland, Martin worked as a data scientist for Kitman Labs, a human performance optimization firm, prior to joining the ITAO department. While at Kitman Labs, he developed machine learning pipelines and collaborated with elite sports teams on projects in the areas of injury prevention, performance maximization, player growth and maturation, and strategy analysis. He is also the faculty advisor to Notre Dame’s Sports Analytics Club, which provides analytics services to many ND athletic teams.

More information is available on the website, which we will continue to modify and build out over time.

Special thanks to Corey Angst, Kristen Collett-Schmitt, María Stutsman y Márquez, Brian Connelly and the Mendoza Graduate Business administration for collaboratively working to get this going in such a short time frame.

Rob Easley
John W. Berry Sr. Department Chair
IT, Analytics, & Operations