Hello, Welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast. We explore some of the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm Michael Barr and I'm Damien SaaS Hour. Oh my baseball is here, the young infancy stage of baseball, newborn for the season with us to talk about all the cool stuff in baseball is the Boston Red Sox Chief Technology Officer Brian Shield. Brian, Welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports. Yeah, thanks Michael. Thanks, Damian's gonna be with you now. Now here comes stupid old man bar What is your What is a chief Technology officer for the Red Sox? What do you do? Yeah, so, I spent a lot of my time obviously on everything that's fan facing, obviously internal to the front office of the organization. You know, we're closely with Baseball operations on a lot of the technology that we deploy and in an operationally we support you know, seven ballparks to make sure that especially as technology becomes more pervasive, weather, it's analytics on the forums. You know, we've got more than fifty you know, cameras and analytics taken place across all these ballparks, so you know, keeping track of all that information, all the data, and all the analytics that kind of go along with it, and uh in developing applications to help support the business and our fans. And Brian, just to confirm those cameras aren't used to steal signs for them from the New York Yankees. Right, I'm just kidding. This is why we can't have nice things. I mean, Brian, here's here's here's the interesting question I have, right, I mean, even now got sports betting. The NFL just yesterday announced they're going to be allowing some of these you know kind of sports betting, um, you know, vanduels, et cetera, to set up inside the stadium. How do you think that's going to change the fan experience if it ever comes to baseball? Yeah, I think in time. I mean, you know, I think all these things. I mean, the good news about the relationship I think that clubs have with MLB is that, you know, this has been We've had plenty time to sort of, you know, discuss this sort of internally and think about sort of you know, the ripple effect X. I mean, there's some sports that are further along than baseball, and so I think we'll certainly learn from them, you know, and you know, and probably implement a little bit of a Crall Walker run manner. But but I think it's generally somewhat inevitable. I think it's just more a question of timing and and and degree is some level everybody's getting ready for the betting, and would be a whole season looking at the games and they're going to see, Okay, do I want to bet this spread or bet that spread? And they're going to be probably using a lot of your data involved in trying to come up with the decision. Can you take us more on what sports betting has meant for baseball? Yeah, I mean, I think you know the one thing. I mean, you know, as you all know, whether it's you know, just going back to things like moneyball, I mean, you know, analytics and deep you know, levels of data have been a party baseball for years, you know, probably have since the inception. But but certainly, you know, in certainly over the last ten to twenty years, they've they've progressed in mist respects so that we much much more granulator of data. I mean, MLB's obviously added a lot of new technology, you know, for the last ten years through products like stat casts and other things, and it's been supplemented quite a bit with you know, organizations like ours and many other clubs that add many of those camera analytics that analyze pitches and keep track of everything from you know, a thousand frames a second in certain cases, so we know everything from all the mechanics or hitters and batters and you know, a t goual zero with the ball leaves a bat i'll you know jump on the ball and the path to the ball, and you know there's a you know, fling. You know, when you watch like a you know obviously a Monday night game or a Sunday night game, you know, you really get a good appreciation or you know, all star games like you know, for all the different analytics that kind of exist. So I think all those will ultimately come into play. The good thing is is that they continue to get refined and get much more accurate. So um, you know, there will certainly be a treasure trove of data for people to kind of you know, dip into to learn about these prophcesses. But it's you know, generally publicly available at least most of that's available. Where are we all our own proprietary data that wouldn't be part of that discussion. So Brian, I know, I mean obviously, you know, we could talk about did he have on players, on coaches, on the game itself. But I mean we also obviously have a lot of focus on consumer data, you know, and what your audience, what your fans are doing. And you know, from my perspective, you know, my question is, you know, what type of data are you keeping on your fans? What type of data do you find useful when trying to you know, grow the Red Sox franchise and grow and build your brand. Yeah, no, great questions. So you know you're right the We're not unique. I mean, all clubs are their data content, Like every organization has, you know, hockey stick and in you know, understanding of fan behavior and the kind of data that we sort of collect as part of that has also done so again, as I mentioned before, we have a very close relationship with LBS, so we have this um you know obviously not just between both our websites and mobile apps. And because everything is effectively mobile now with one hundred percent digital ticketing, you know, we know more about fan behaved, which is a good thing, right, So we keep track of everything from obviously everything there's no about ticketing and primary markets and secondary markets and how people use their tickets and you know, what time they get to games and what gates they go into and all host of things so that you know, over time that we can hopefully create a better experience. As you guys know, I mean, you guys obviously attend a lot of sporting events, but you know, your average fan, you know, you've got different you know, we've got different many different personas of fans, and you know, a different ends of it. You've got the family with a couple of kids who probably go to one or two games a year, and you know, coming to Fenway Park is like you know, going to Disney World and so it's probably uniquely you know, probably similarly confusing in me as and so you know, anything that we can do to simplify that experience where we can give them information about hey, you know, use our app to kind of playing your parking, so you don't you're not trying to do that on the fly, because as you guys know, Fenway is not a you know, parking friendly world so to speak, given being kind of an urban environment, and or whether it's you know, well food ordering or it's it's pre ordering depending upon kind of where you're sitting, and you know, seat upgrades and things about you know, we work with MLB on things in the future about you know, wayfinding and other things. So to me, it's all these fan amenities kind of I hope will kind of add up to really sort of making it a more seamless experience, you know, for fans on both kind of ends of the frequent fans and the season ticket holders to the occasional fan who's trying to navigate their journey. You know, once or two us here speaking from the good old Geezer days, when I used to go to old Tiger Stadium and if you wanted some special food you would get the hot dog and he the person would say, yeah, mustard and ketchups too. You're right. Maybe if you want some relish, okay, here it is in a packet. Now everything has changed. In fact, Aramark just announced and you guys are involved with their food preparations. So many items that are involved now that someone can go to the park and just enjoy theirselves and pig out eating good food. Yeah, you know, it's funny, you say that I was at a game. I was at a hockey game last night, and I was kind of wishing for some of that. You know. I was walking around like a dog slice of pizza, and I'm kind of like, man, you know, and you know, if your appetite is a little broader than that, you know, it's um, I think you'll be happy, you know, with the way I think, you know, Airmark and the Red Sox and other clubs are sort of providing much many more services, you know. I remember one of the first away games I went to is when the Red Sox and eighty six were an Anaheim at the playoffs, and I remember being like overwhelmed by the by the by the volume and you know a variety of food that was available at the park, and I thought, oh my gosh, because you're right, I think back in the day it was probably a hot dog and yeahs sitting under a light bulb or something, you know. And so it's come a long ways, and and you know, we have tools that allow people to kind of you know, query those things too, so they can hopefully bind things at they like best to make it kind of a more more compelling experience. Brian Baseball's dynamic and in your earle ye're at the heart of that dynamism. And but what I mean by that is, we had some rules changes in the offseason. You know, no shift, you know the pitch count, you know the size of the basis, I mean the pitch count. Kenley Jansen had the worst third worst tempo between pitches last year. So talk to me about the interesting novel data requests you're receiving in response to these rules changes. Yeah, I mean, the good news is, I'll start with the positives. I guess the good news is is that you know, spring training games are finishing twenty and thirty minutes faster than last year, you know, So I think there's reason for optimism. I mean, we learn a lot from our minor league systems too, just to kind of get a better glens of you know, what it'll be like when we kind of apply those things, you know, at the major league level, and you know, and I think it's all very encouraging. I think it's gonna be a really a better experience for fans. I think it's gonna, as we saw in a couple of situations, you know, there's gonna be a little kind of working through some kinks. I think, you know, like we saw on spring training in a couple incidences, you know them. You know, I think on some level it's you know, it'll be some elements like you know, like like football sometimes when you're kind of trying to figure out like the boundaries, who wants a catch? You know? Yeah, I mean, I mean, Brian, you gotta believe right like teams like yourselves are going to be really monitoring like pitch counts, time between pitch counts, things of that nature. Now, because I'm sure it's going to impact, you know, the way the way the players play, right, I mean you might you might have play, you know, and so I'm just curious, you know, from your perspective, are you going to be doing anything differently this year? Yeah? I don't have you know, tremendous insight on that particular question, but we always kind of measure that, you know, So that's really do us. I think it's to your point though, it probably puts a finer point on it because as you know, you know, some pictures, you know, they're they're most comfortable if they kind of you know, kind of take their time and their patient and things like that you know, this is going to kind of force them to a little bit out of their comfort zone. So I think, you know, for our organizations like ours, you know, all these variables kind of going into like you dry, like how you you know, how you train them up, like how you coach them over these different skills. And you know, in the challenge with any professional athlete, even any weekend warrior when it comes to golf or something, is that you know, you can only tweak so many things at the same time, right, So it's I think, you know, and I think that we've had time to realize this was coming. So I think, um, you know, we saw a couple of years ago we started introducing when it will be introduced sort of like even players not leaving the batter's box, you know. I mean, you know, we've had a few celebrated players here in our own history who were who quite took their time between pitches, you know, if they were hitters and stuff and adjusting equipment as such. And uh. And I think that frankly, has made it so much better because as a fan, you know, I think we want to see you know, we want to see offense, We want to see excitement and we want the game to come move at a you know, reasonable base, you know, so more of that what I was just going to say, I mean, we can't. We can't let you leave without asking you about your big offseason acquisition Masataka Yoshida. Right. We also the World Baseball Classic. We know who he is now, five year, ninety million dollars looks like a steal now when people were saying it was risky. Um. My question for you is, you know, the Red Sox have always been so active internationally and specifically when it comes to Japanese prospects. What type of data are you guys, you know, kind of looking over in order to get, you know, a better handle on some of these players who have yet to really show themselves in the majors. Well, we've got We've always had a very diverse, you know scouting organization with you know, more than one hundred and thirty scouts you know, across the US in their national so you know, we obviously apply very much the same metrics internationally. I mean, if you think about how many you know, players come from Central and South America and things like that, so we're already you know, very well versed kind of those things. I mean, you know, a Tony's obviously, you know, I think given all of us sort of a reality check about just the quality of baseball that's being played over there, or certainly that certain individuals can you know, enable or you know, provide. And so I think, you know, we applied for a munch the same filters, and I think that, you know, obviously, the organizas feels really really high on him and he's a great job of the World Baseball Classic, and so I think, you know, we're very excited about you know what that means, hopefully for Boston, worse for years to come. My father, God rest his soul. He was in his nineties when he passed, and before he passed, I was trying to explain to him, Hey, Pop, you need to get Wi Fi. And he looked at me and he said, what kind of voodoo hoot nanny is that? And I'm like, I'm trying to explain this to him. But you know, today's world is listen, It's hard for me to think of a park without Wi Fi. I'm sure Fenway has made so many upgrades in that area and upgrades and beyond. Yeah, we were the first, you know, organization to uh, you know, take advantage of extreme networks, you know Wi Fi six environment. I saw the Braves just announced the new Wi Fi six E, the latest version of Wi Fi, and uh, it's it's a you know, it's a big deal, right Like, it's not just Wi Fi. It's kind of building that relationship between you know, both Wi Fi and cellular service right to to really kind of deliver a compelling experience. And your other point about you know, whether it's all these other phantomenities like whether it's mobile food ordering or other you know, or how do I find different you know, kinds of foods that might you know I might prefer, or you know, digital ticketing and all the different you know, other forms of amenities that we now rely on our mobile apps to enable. Those things are all predicated on having you know, high speed connectivity. So we've got a great relationship with Verizon with five G, We've got a great relationship with extreame networks, and you know, we monitor really closely, you know, and you're never done. You know. That's the other reality is, you know, you implement these things and it's um, you know, it's kind of it's a challenge to kind of refine and tune these things so that you get in the best possible performance. And uh, you know, for us, it's like, you know, whether you want to take pictures and upload things to social media or you want to you know, who knows in future sports betting or things. You know. You know, we look at all the analytics too, you know, and we know how people kind of you know, use WiFi and things like that. And you know, I was actually very surprised looking at some numbers recently that just how many people like you know, even bet on other sports while they're sitting there watching a baseball game. You know, It's like it's it's pretty remarkable, you know, whether that or it's social media and things. And so we now fans use the technology and uh, and we're continuing to provide services to hopefully kind of tap into that. Ryan, I know you're up in Boston, but if you were here with me and mister Barr in New York City, you'd be reading in the post about Nick's owner James Dolan and the team spatial recognition technology and all the who and haw that goes with that. You know, it seems it's a little bit of a love hate relationship between the fans and the teams that are collecting data on them. How do you sell to fans that collecting such data is actually going to help them enjoy games more and improve the experience. Yeah, it's a really good question. I mean special recognition in my mind, because we're very familiar with the company. We did some testing with with wicket is Well, and you know, we were really impressed. I mean we were able to Now these are people who have all opted in, right, so we don't do it with average person. Person has to opt into this program. But once they have opted in, you know, we can see numbers of having up to like sixty people per minute, you know, kind of passed through a turnstyle just based on facial recognition. That's like really remarkable, and I think what's going to happen in time. I think the efficiencies will outweigh people sort of anxiety in some levels about about sort of some of those things that's being maybe collected or shared and things like that. There's a lot of safeguards that go into this as well, and you know, we kind of pause a little bit. MLBS obviously did a big study and they're doing some piloting this year, the Mets are kind of you know, testing something a little bit different. And obviously we've sort of seen this through football and the Brown to doing quite a bit for a number of years, you know, so we're for us, it's not as critical an item for us because a little bit because venways us smaller ballpark in our lines aren't usually huge quite like in the same way you might find it some other ballparks where you know, it's when giant parking lot surrounded by it's sort of a number of different entrances. You know, it's not as pivotal, we don't think. But in time, I mean, I know Aarmark is testing with as well. So you know, people at will time will be able to order alcoholic beverages based on facial record, and sho'll be able to order other things and stuff, and so I think it's sort of inevitable in certain cases. But again for those people that decide oppt in so I think it's it'll be sort of, you know, a little all the cart for folks to kind of decide whether these are features that they want to take advantage of. Mister Dolan and many other parks would hate me. I can just see who broke this, Oh Bar's face. Thanks, thanks a lot. It's all done, man. I would like to ask one thing about the data that has to change because the bases simply are larger now, you know, there's less distant for the runner to get from point A to point B. That has to change the data on runners stealing bases or just simply running out to first base. Yeah, absolutely, I mean hopefully you know, I think you know the intent obviously, you know, as a lead continues to sort of tweak and refine some of these different things. Is that you know, as you know, sometimes you know, if you follow baseball, some people say like, oh, these are advantages to the pitcher or these are these are you know, like look at a look at you know when people do shifts, right, I mean obviously kind of cuts down on a number of hits and runs and things and changes people's you know, approached at the bat and when they're at the plate. And I think you know what it's going to do is it's hopefully going to reward you know, speed on the base pass. And you know, we already measure things things that historically were very qualitative, like you know, he got a good lead, you know, these things are all very quantitative now, you know, we kind of know things like when the person gets a lead more than you know, whatever nine feet that their success rate is expon actually higher than slightly less than that, and things like that. So people know there's there's a lot of detail that goes into all these different things that you and I growing up would have thought were kind of somewhat qualitative things, you know, So it'll definitely affect kind of I think, you know, when people choose to steal, you know, hopefully it'll change kind of coaches a little bit behavior when they get certain you know, batters at bat and you know, base runners something. So, um, I'm really excited about seeing kind of and looking at the data on all this and see how it basically kind of plays out with frankly, with so many rule changes kind of happening at the same time. You know, I think it's all positive. It's I think it's all generally going in the right direction. It's um looking at them in their magnitude hopefully just results in sortive you know, better overall experience and hopefully less time so that folks can you know, kind of enjoy the rest of their day. As well file Brian Shield, Red Sox Chief Technology Officer, under super due because it was so kind to join us how on the Bloomberg Business of Sports. Thank you again, Brian. We really do appreciate it. You know, it's great John, you guys, thank you very much and it'll be a great, great season. This has been the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast. Will we explore some of the big money issues in the world of sports at Michael bar You can follow me on Twitter at Big Bar Sports and I'm Damien Saster. You can follow me on Twitter at d sass Hour. Hey guess what. You can download our podcast every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Download them wherever you get your podcast.

Hello, Welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast. We explore some of the big money issues in the world of sports. I'm Michael Barr and I'm Damien SaaS Hour. Oh my baseball is here, the young infancy stage of baseball, newborn for the season with us to talk about all the cool stuff in baseball is the Boston Red Sox Chief Technology Officer Brian Shield. Brian, Welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports. Yeah, thanks Michael. Thanks, Damian's gonna be with you now. Now here comes stupid old man bar What is your What is a chief Technology officer for the Red Sox? What do you do? Yeah, so, I spent a lot of my time obviously on everything that's fan facing, obviously internal to the front office of the organization. You know, we're closely with Baseball operations on a lot of the technology that we deploy and in an operationally we support you know, seven ballparks to make sure that especially as technology becomes more pervasive, weather, it's analytics on the forums. You know, we've got more than fifty you know, cameras and analytics taken place across all these ballparks, so you know, keeping track of all that information, all the data, and all the analytics that kind of go along with it, and uh in developing applications to help support the business and our fans. And Brian, just to confirm those cameras aren't used to steal signs for them from the New York Yankees. Right, I'm just kidding. This is why we can't have nice things. I mean, Brian, here's here's here's the interesting question I have, right, I mean, even now got sports betting. The NFL just yesterday announced they're going to be allowing some of these you know kind of sports betting, um, you know, vanduels, et cetera, to set up inside the stadium. How do you think that's going to change the fan experience if it ever comes to baseball? Yeah, I think in time. I mean, you know, I think all these things. I mean, the good news about the relationship I think that clubs have with MLB is that, you know, this has been We've had plenty time to sort of, you know, discuss this sort of internally and think about sort of you know, the ripple effect X. I mean, there's some sports that are further along than baseball, and so I think we'll certainly learn from them, you know, and you know, and probably implement a little bit of a Crall Walker run manner. But but I think it's generally somewhat inevitable. I think it's just more a question of timing and and and degree is some level everybody's getting ready for the betting, and would be a whole season looking at the games and they're going to see, Okay, do I want to bet this spread or bet that spread? And they're going to be probably using a lot of your data involved in trying to come up with the decision. Can you take us more on what sports betting has meant for baseball? Yeah, I mean, I think you know the one thing. I mean, you know, as you all know, whether it's you know, just going back to things like moneyball, I mean, you know, analytics and deep you know, levels of data have been a party baseball for years, you know, probably have since the inception. But but certainly, you know, in certainly over the last ten to twenty years, they've they've progressed in mist respects so that we much much more granulator of data. I mean, MLB's obviously added a lot of new technology, you know, for the last ten years through products like stat casts and other things, and it's been supplemented quite a bit with you know, organizations like ours and many other clubs that add many of those camera analytics that analyze pitches and keep track of everything from you know, a thousand frames a second in certain cases, so we know everything from all the mechanics or hitters and batters and you know, a t goual zero with the ball leaves a bat i'll you know jump on the ball and the path to the ball, and you know there's a you know, fling. You know, when you watch like a you know obviously a Monday night game or a Sunday night game, you know, you really get a good appreciation or you know, all star games like you know, for all the different analytics that kind of exist. So I think all those will ultimately come into play. The good thing is is that they continue to get refined and get much more accurate. So um, you know, there will certainly be a treasure trove of data for people to kind of you know, dip into to learn about these prophcesses. But it's you know, generally publicly available at least most of that's available. Where are we all our own proprietary data that wouldn't be part of that discussion. So Brian, I know, I mean obviously, you know, we could talk about did he have on players, on coaches, on the game itself. But I mean we also obviously have a lot of focus on consumer data, you know, and what your audience, what your fans are doing. And you know, from my perspective, you know, my question is, you know, what type of data are you keeping on your fans? What type of data do you find useful when trying to you know, grow the Red Sox franchise and grow and build your brand. Yeah, no, great questions. So you know you're right the We're not unique. I mean, all clubs are their data content, Like every organization has, you know, hockey stick and in you know, understanding of fan behavior and the kind of data that we sort of collect as part of that has also done so again, as I mentioned before, we have a very close relationship with LBS, so we have this um you know obviously not just between both our websites and mobile apps. And because everything is effectively mobile now with one hundred percent digital ticketing, you know, we know more about fan behaved, which is a good thing, right, So we keep track of everything from obviously everything there's no about ticketing and primary markets and secondary markets and how people use their tickets and you know, what time they get to games and what gates they go into and all host of things so that you know, over time that we can hopefully create a better experience. As you guys know, I mean, you guys obviously attend a lot of sporting events, but you know, your average fan, you know, you've got different you know, we've got different many different personas of fans, and you know, a different ends of it. You've got the family with a couple of kids who probably go to one or two games a year, and you know, coming to Fenway Park is like you know, going to Disney World and so it's probably uniquely you know, probably similarly confusing in me as and so you know, anything that we can do to simplify that experience where we can give them information about hey, you know, use our app to kind of playing your parking, so you don't you're not trying to do that on the fly, because as you guys know, Fenway is not a you know, parking friendly world so to speak, given being kind of an urban environment, and or whether it's you know, well food ordering or it's it's pre ordering depending upon kind of where you're sitting, and you know, seat upgrades and things about you know, we work with MLB on things in the future about you know, wayfinding and other things. So to me, it's all these fan amenities kind of I hope will kind of add up to really sort of making it a more seamless experience, you know, for fans on both kind of ends of the frequent fans and the season ticket holders to the occasional fan who's trying to navigate their journey. You know, once or two us here speaking from the good old Geezer days, when I used to go to old Tiger Stadium and if you wanted some special food you would get the hot dog and he the person would say, yeah, mustard and ketchups too. You're right. Maybe if you want some relish, okay, here it is in a packet. Now everything has changed. In fact, Aramark just announced and you guys are involved with their food preparations. So many items that are involved now that someone can go to the park and just enjoy theirselves and pig out eating good food. Yeah, you know, it's funny, you say that I was at a game. I was at a hockey game last night, and I was kind of wishing for some of that. You know. I was walking around like a dog slice of pizza, and I'm kind of like, man, you know, and you know, if your appetite is a little broader than that, you know, it's um, I think you'll be happy, you know, with the way I think, you know, Airmark and the Red Sox and other clubs are sort of providing much many more services, you know. I remember one of the first away games I went to is when the Red Sox and eighty six were an Anaheim at the playoffs, and I remember being like overwhelmed by the by the by the volume and you know a variety of food that was available at the park, and I thought, oh my gosh, because you're right, I think back in the day it was probably a hot dog and yeahs sitting under a light bulb or something, you know. And so it's come a long ways, and and you know, we have tools that allow people to kind of you know, query those things too, so they can hopefully bind things at they like best to make it kind of a more more compelling experience. Brian Baseball's dynamic and in your earle ye're at the heart of that dynamism. And but what I mean by that is, we had some rules changes in the offseason. You know, no shift, you know the pitch count, you know the size of the basis, I mean the pitch count. Kenley Jansen had the worst third worst tempo between pitches last year. So talk to me about the interesting novel data requests you're receiving in response to these rules changes. Yeah, I mean, the good news is, I'll start with the positives. I guess the good news is is that you know, spring training games are finishing twenty and thirty minutes faster than last year, you know, So I think there's reason for optimism. I mean, we learn a lot from our minor league systems too, just to kind of get a better glens of you know, what it'll be like when we kind of apply those things, you know, at the major league level, and you know, and I think it's all very encouraging. I think it's gonna be a really a better experience for fans. I think it's gonna, as we saw in a couple of situations, you know, there's gonna be a little kind of working through some kinks. I think, you know, like we saw on spring training in a couple incidences, you know them. You know, I think on some level it's you know, it'll be some elements like you know, like like football sometimes when you're kind of trying to figure out like the boundaries, who wants a catch? You know? Yeah, I mean, I mean, Brian, you gotta believe right like teams like yourselves are going to be really monitoring like pitch counts, time between pitch counts, things of that nature. Now, because I'm sure it's going to impact, you know, the way the way the players play, right, I mean you might you might have play, you know, and so I'm just curious, you know, from your perspective, are you going to be doing anything differently this year? Yeah? I don't have you know, tremendous insight on that particular question, but we always kind of measure that, you know, So that's really do us. I think it's to your point though, it probably puts a finer point on it because as you know, you know, some pictures, you know, they're they're most comfortable if they kind of you know, kind of take their time and their patient and things like that you know, this is going to kind of force them to a little bit out of their comfort zone. So I think, you know, for our organizations like ours, you know, all these variables kind of going into like you dry, like how you you know, how you train them up, like how you coach them over these different skills. And you know, in the challenge with any professional athlete, even any weekend warrior when it comes to golf or something, is that you know, you can only tweak so many things at the same time, right, So it's I think, you know, and I think that we've had time to realize this was coming. So I think, um, you know, we saw a couple of years ago we started introducing when it will be introduced sort of like even players not leaving the batter's box, you know. I mean, you know, we've had a few celebrated players here in our own history who were who quite took their time between pitches, you know, if they were hitters and stuff and adjusting equipment as such. And uh. And I think that frankly, has made it so much better because as a fan, you know, I think we want to see you know, we want to see offense, We want to see excitement and we want the game to come move at a you know, reasonable base, you know, so more of that what I was just going to say, I mean, we can't. We can't let you leave without asking you about your big offseason acquisition Masataka Yoshida. Right. We also the World Baseball Classic. We know who he is now, five year, ninety million dollars looks like a steal now when people were saying it was risky. Um. My question for you is, you know, the Red Sox have always been so active internationally and specifically when it comes to Japanese prospects. What type of data are you guys, you know, kind of looking over in order to get, you know, a better handle on some of these players who have yet to really show themselves in the majors. Well, we've got We've always had a very diverse, you know scouting organization with you know, more than one hundred and thirty scouts you know, across the US in their national so you know, we obviously apply very much the same metrics internationally. I mean, if you think about how many you know, players come from Central and South America and things like that, so we're already you know, very well versed kind of those things. I mean, you know, a Tony's obviously, you know, I think given all of us sort of a reality check about just the quality of baseball that's being played over there, or certainly that certain individuals can you know, enable or you know, provide. And so I think, you know, we applied for a munch the same filters, and I think that, you know, obviously, the organizas feels really really high on him and he's a great job of the World Baseball Classic, and so I think, you know, we're very excited about you know what that means, hopefully for Boston, worse for years to come. My father, God rest his soul. He was in his nineties when he passed, and before he passed, I was trying to explain to him, Hey, Pop, you need to get Wi Fi. And he looked at me and he said, what kind of voodoo hoot nanny is that? And I'm like, I'm trying to explain this to him. But you know, today's world is listen, It's hard for me to think of a park without Wi Fi. I'm sure Fenway has made so many upgrades in that area and upgrades and beyond. Yeah, we were the first, you know, organization to uh, you know, take advantage of extreme networks, you know Wi Fi six environment. I saw the Braves just announced the new Wi Fi six E, the latest version of Wi Fi, and uh, it's it's a you know, it's a big deal, right Like, it's not just Wi Fi. It's kind of building that relationship between you know, both Wi Fi and cellular service right to to really kind of deliver a compelling experience. And your other point about you know, whether it's all these other phantomenities like whether it's mobile food ordering or other you know, or how do I find different you know, kinds of foods that might you know I might prefer, or you know, digital ticketing and all the different you know, other forms of amenities that we now rely on our mobile apps to enable. Those things are all predicated on having you know, high speed connectivity. So we've got a great relationship with Verizon with five G, We've got a great relationship with extreame networks, and you know, we monitor really closely, you know, and you're never done. You know. That's the other reality is, you know, you implement these things and it's um, you know, it's kind of it's a challenge to kind of refine and tune these things so that you get in the best possible performance. And uh, you know, for us, it's like, you know, whether you want to take pictures and upload things to social media or you want to you know, who knows in future sports betting or things. You know. You know, we look at all the analytics too, you know, and we know how people kind of you know, use WiFi and things like that. And you know, I was actually very surprised looking at some numbers recently that just how many people like you know, even bet on other sports while they're sitting there watching a baseball game. You know, It's like it's it's pretty remarkable, you know, whether that or it's social media and things. And so we now fans use the technology and uh, and we're continuing to provide services to hopefully kind of tap into that. Ryan, I know you're up in Boston, but if you were here with me and mister Barr in New York City, you'd be reading in the post about Nick's owner James Dolan and the team spatial recognition technology and all the who and haw that goes with that. You know, it seems it's a little bit of a love hate relationship between the fans and the teams that are collecting data on them. How do you sell to fans that collecting such data is actually going to help them enjoy games more and improve the experience. Yeah, it's a really good question. I mean special recognition in my mind, because we're very familiar with the company. We did some testing with with wicket is Well, and you know, we were really impressed. I mean we were able to Now these are people who have all opted in, right, so we don't do it with average person. Person has to opt into this program. But once they have opted in, you know, we can see numbers of having up to like sixty people per minute, you know, kind of passed through a turnstyle just based on facial recognition. That's like really remarkable, and I think what's going to happen in time. I think the efficiencies will outweigh people sort of anxiety in some levels about about sort of some of those things that's being maybe collected or shared and things like that. There's a lot of safeguards that go into this as well, and you know, we kind of pause a little bit. MLBS obviously did a big study and they're doing some piloting this year, the Mets are kind of you know, testing something a little bit different. And obviously we've sort of seen this through football and the Brown to doing quite a bit for a number of years, you know, so we're for us, it's not as critical an item for us because a little bit because venways us smaller ballpark in our lines aren't usually huge quite like in the same way you might find it some other ballparks where you know, it's when giant parking lot surrounded by it's sort of a number of different entrances. You know, it's not as pivotal, we don't think. But in time, I mean, I know Aarmark is testing with as well. So you know, people at will time will be able to order alcoholic beverages based on facial record, and sho'll be able to order other things and stuff, and so I think it's sort of inevitable in certain cases. But again for those people that decide oppt in so I think it's it'll be sort of, you know, a little all the cart for folks to kind of decide whether these are features that they want to take advantage of. Mister Dolan and many other parks would hate me. I can just see who broke this, Oh Bar's face. Thanks, thanks a lot. It's all done, man. I would like to ask one thing about the data that has to change because the bases simply are larger now, you know, there's less distant for the runner to get from point A to point B. That has to change the data on runners stealing bases or just simply running out to first base. Yeah, absolutely, I mean hopefully you know, I think you know the intent obviously, you know, as a lead continues to sort of tweak and refine some of these different things. Is that you know, as you know, sometimes you know, if you follow baseball, some people say like, oh, these are advantages to the pitcher or these are these are you know, like look at a look at you know when people do shifts, right, I mean obviously kind of cuts down on a number of hits and runs and things and changes people's you know, approached at the bat and when they're at the plate. And I think you know what it's going to do is it's hopefully going to reward you know, speed on the base pass. And you know, we already measure things things that historically were very qualitative, like you know, he got a good lead, you know, these things are all very quantitative now, you know, we kind of know things like when the person gets a lead more than you know, whatever nine feet that their success rate is expon actually higher than slightly less than that, and things like that. So people know there's there's a lot of detail that goes into all these different things that you and I growing up would have thought were kind of somewhat qualitative things, you know, So it'll definitely affect kind of I think, you know, when people choose to steal, you know, hopefully it'll change kind of coaches a little bit behavior when they get certain you know, batters at bat and you know, base runners something. So, um, I'm really excited about seeing kind of and looking at the data on all this and see how it basically kind of plays out with frankly, with so many rule changes kind of happening at the same time. You know, I think it's all positive. It's I think it's all generally going in the right direction. It's um looking at them in their magnitude hopefully just results in sortive you know, better overall experience and hopefully less time so that folks can you know, kind of enjoy the rest of their day. As well file Brian Shield, Red Sox Chief Technology Officer, under super due because it was so kind to join us how on the Bloomberg Business of Sports. Thank you again, Brian. We really do appreciate it. You know, it's great John, you guys, thank you very much and it'll be a great, great season. This has been the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast. Will we explore some of the big money issues in the world of sports at Michael bar You can follow me on Twitter at Big Bar Sports and I'm Damien Saster. You can follow me on Twitter at d sass Hour. Hey guess what. You can download our podcast every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Download them wherever you get your podcast.