Reel Analytics

Reel Analytics uses patented Artificial Intelligence technology to evaluate college and professional athletes like never before.

Using this technology, coaches can gather unique athleticism data that enables them to evaluate players more accurately. Along with this data, short-form video content can be created using this technology, enabling media outlets and sports-betting companies to increase fan engagement.

Reel Analytics is used by the National Football League Players Association, NFL agents, and college-football programs including the University of Georgia, University of Michigan, and Texas Christian University.

Perhaps surprisingly, sports analytics is a major market. It’s already valued at nearly two-and-a-half billion dollars, and is projected to surpass eight billion dollars by 2027.

Why are analytics so important? Because sports teams are constantly on the hunt for the most talented players. But the evaluation process can be tricky. Furthermore, it’s ever-changing. A football player who achieved success in the 1980s, for example, might not be the right fit in today’s sport.

Two-thirds of players drafted by teams don’t meet expectations, costing teams eighteen billion dollars in salaries, scholarships, and financial aid in the process. This is a big reason why seventy percent of rookies in the NFL don’t sign a second contract with the team that drafted them.

Reel Analytics offers a new way to evaluate players, using technology that goes well beyond tracking how fast an athlete can run or how high they can jump.

You see, most players’ skills are evaluated in controlled, low-leverage situations. The NFL, for example, hosts an annual combine event, where players run, jump, and throw in front of scouts and coaches.

The problem is that the setting in which these players are showcasing their talents is flawed. Players aren’t facing any opponent, and aren’t even in uniform. It’s a far cry from what these players will do in an actual game.

This makes it difficult to determine if a player’s performance at a combine will translate to a game with meaning. But Reel Analytics’ technology can help.

The company’s proprietary In-Game Athleticism (IGA) score leverages metrics similar to a combine but in the context of a game. This offers enhanced accuracy when projecting players to the next level.

This scoring model was trained using data from more than 15,000 college and NFL players, providing both current and historical context. Each metric is weighted, percentile-ranked, and scored.

The result is technology that enables coaches and scouts to quantifiably assess what they observe on video when evaluating players. They can even use the IGA scores to accurately compare a current prospect to someone who played twenty years earlier and had a Hall of Fame level career.

Reel Analytics’ business model contains two elements: performance analysis for teams and athletes, and fan engagement for sports-media companies.

Teams and athletes access the company’s athleticism data via annual subscriptions, while fans can access it on their favorite sports websites to glean knowledge to help with sports betting.

Athletes, meanwhile, can share their verified speed and athleticism data from Reel Analytics with college coaches and compare their scores to their peers and NFL players.

As mentioned, Reel Analytics is used by top teams and coaches at the college and professional levels. Said Deion Sanders, Hall of Fame football player and current University of Colorado head football coach, “Reel Analytics played a key role in building our championship roster at Jackson State and will do the same for us at Colorado. Their in-game athleticism score is a foundational piece of our talent evaluation process.”

Reel Analytics developed a minimum viable product of its platform in 2020 and filed for a patent application that same year. In 2022, the company raised $120,000 from Panoramic Ventures, a venture-capital firm, and was recognized by Pepperdine University as a Top 100 Most Fundable Company.

Team Background

Cory Yates - Co-Founder & CEO

Cory founded Reel Analytics after spending more than fourteen years with Home Depot, the hardware-store chain. During his time there, he was a merchandise manager and was named Merchant of the Year in 2011, Home Depot’s highest merchandising honor.

Prior to that, he founded Y&B Sports Solutions, a service dedicated to training, mentoring, and guiding student athletes. This business helped students earn more than $500,000 in scholarship offers.

Early in his career, Cory was a marketing manager with RadioShack, an electronics retailer. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management and an MBA from Texas A&M University-Commerce.

Alfonzo Thurman - Co-Founder & COO

Alfonzo has an entrepreneurial background with experience bringing new products to market.

Most recently, he was Head of On-Demand Purchases at JLL marketplace, an e-commerce platform for the real-estate industry. Before that, he co-founded Mule2Go, a technology platform serving as an on-demand delivery service. This platform was recognized by Yelp as the highest-rated delivery service in Atlanta for three straight years.

Earlier in his career, Alfonzo was a product merchant and category director with Home Depot. Prior to that, he was Director of Strategic Sourcing at grocery-chain Safeway, and was a senior-purchasing manager with Procter & Gamble.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Management from Indiana University and an MBA from the University of Cincinnati.

Co-Investors

Panoramic Ventures

Part of BIP Ventures, a venture-capital firm investing in emerging companies.