FLEX Course: Math and Sports Analytics, Be the GM of Your Favorite Team

This course will combine some math skills and sports analytics to help students understand what it is like to be a professional sports team general manager.  We will primarily focus on the sports of football, basketball, and baseball, though other sports can be used based on student interest.  The primary math/economics topics we will explore will include:
*Budgets
*Spreadsheets
*Opportunity Cost
*Interest 
*Sunk cost analysis

The Sports concepts we will look at include:
*Salary Caps
* Trade evaluations 
* Building teams on the basis of team strengths and salary cap limitations
* Player evaluations based on stats/analytics and efficiency ratings

The sports we will cover include: Basketball (Day 1), Football (Day 2), Baseball (Day 3), Soccer/Hockey/Other Sports of Student Interest (Day 4)

Format
Day 1: 
A. Introduction to the course, key websites, an introductory explanation of Sports Analytics and its growing role in Professional Sports.
B. Graphic Analysis: Students analyze an NBA shot chart, give feedback, and hear a 1-2 minute explanation video on contrasting styles of play in the NBA over the past twenty years due to analytics. 
C.  Students do points per possession calculation in the NBA based on 3 different shooting spots: Dunk, Mid-range Jumper, 3 pointer.  They then calculate what the points per game would be if a team only selected shots from one of these spots the whole game.
D.  Students watch 1-2 minute video with analysis of why teams have shifted to a philosophy where more 3's are taken and how GM's craft rosters using analytics like the 3 point analysis.
E.  Students evaluate how to construct a roster in light of new analytics understanding.  
F.  Students construct roster using spotrac.com and stay under the salary cap.  Share with others in course and with instructor for feedback.
Day 2: 
A.  Topics: How different sports teams evaluate and compare performances of players?  How is that info used to construct rosters.
B.  1-2 minute video comparing/explaining WAR, PER, and Player Grades in Pro Football Focus.  
C.  Students evaluate the top three player grades at each position in the NFL and look at the rankings in PFF (PFF.com)
D.  Students will rank in order the positions that they would prioritize (spend the most money on in the salary cap) using a Google Form.
E.  Students then will build a roster of 53 players and stay under the 194 salary cap using spotrac.com
F.  Students submit roster to instructor for feedback/ make corrections if over the cap.
Day 3: MLB Baseball
A.  What is Moneyball and how did the world of Sports Analytics come to be? 
       Review 1 minute clip about Moneyball.
B.  Analyze chart of small v. big market teams
C.  Discuss WAR, what is it? how can it be used by MLB teams? Analyze the top players in history using historical WAR data
D.  Simulation: pick the best players by WAR v. Salary index. 
E.  Create a roster of 25 players with the highest possible WAR while staying under a 50 million dollar budget
Day 4: Premier League Soccer and NHL Hockey or one of the previous sports
A.  Key Topic: Player Tracking DATA, what is it? why is it controversial.  Learners watch a 3 minute clip about player tracking in soccer and comment on it. 
B.  Optional: students read a blog post about player tracking and the misuse of it with star players: Messi and LeBron James
C.  NHL Coaching Question:  Students have to evaluate all of the reasons for why and when a team trailing in an NHL game should pull its goalie.  Analysis of that decision from Mathematical standpoint addressed in 1 minute video from instructor
D.  Students do 2 simulations as a GM
    1.  Student creates a draft and free agency signing philosophy for their favorite professional team.  Students are given question prompts to respond.
     2.  Student must create a new way of playing their favorite sport by a professional team that would give the team a competitive advantage.  For instance, in day 1 we talked about shooting more 3 pointers. What would it look like to do something no other team is doing with regard to style of play, finding players, signing contracts, etc.
E.  Students give feedback to instructor about the course 
F.  Instructions given on career paths to the front office of major sports teams. 



While sports knowledge in all four/five of the major sports (basketball, football, baseball, hockey, soccer) is not necessary, students benefit the most who have a strong understanding of at least one major professional sport and interest in one or two others. 

Note for mature learners ages 12-13:  The ideal age to take this course is 12-13.  The level of understanding, background knowledge, and math skills is ideal for someone in grades 6-8th.  However, many students at younger ages do take the course and do quite well if they have advanced maturity, understand some of the basics of sports, and understand how to read graphs with mathematical material.  It is important that younger learners 9-10 understand that time should not be spent in the course on remote learning etiquette.  They should already come equipped.   Gladly, 99% of the Outschool learners who have taken this class have had that.