Fansided

Masters automated highlight system integrating IBM’s ‘Watson’

By Derek Helling

Apr 4, 2017; Augusta, GA, USA; Masters pin flag at the 7th hole during the Tuesday practice round at Augusta National GC. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 4, 2017; Augusta, GA, USA; Masters pin flag at the 7th hole during the Tuesday practice round at Augusta National GC. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports /
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A new automated highlight system for this year’s Masters tournament is being run by IBM’s “Watson,” furthering automation in sports media.

That highlight of Rory McIlroy that will circulate on Twitter tonight? That wasn’t completely produced by a human being. Fans will have a Masters automated highlight system which will be commanded by IBM’s “Watson” to partially thank.

Watson will scour footage from every shot at this year’s tournament at Augusta National to look for the best shots. According to Natalie Gagliordi of Between the Lines, Watson will use metrics measuring crowd noise and its ability to recognize player gestures among others to determine which moments are worthy of putting into highlight form.

While Watson-culled highlights won’t be part of the television broadcast, they will be available on Masters.com. It’s a next step forward for automation in sports media.

The topic of automation in sports media recently became somewhat controversial. The Associated Press has already announced that it would be releasing automated game reports for minor league baseball and non-revenue college sports. Last November, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban revoked the credentials of two ESPN reporters over concerns that the coverage of his team’s games were going to be automated. The concern is that human sports reporters will lose jobs to the technology.

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For sports media outlets, the integration of automation is about the evolution of sports media and spending its resources wisely. For the Associated Press, automated stories allowed the AP to expand its coverage without having to spend the money and time necessary to send an actual reporter to all those events. The interest level in those events simply doesn’t justify the investment of a person’s time and wages, so they weren’t being sent to those events. The automation allows for new coverage at an investment that the AP can handle.

This Watson highlight system, if successful, could aid producers of sports-related shows immensely. Instead of having to sift through hours of footage themselves, a collection of videos which could be solid candidates for highlight reels could already be selected. That not only saves staff time, but allows the people involved to respond to developments more quickly. In today’s sports media world, the ability to react quickly is paramount to success.

An actual human being will have the final say on which clips are used and probably do some more precise editing of the clips before they go live, so no human beings are losing their jobs to Watson. This is simply a tool to streamline the process. After all, is there any name more appropriate for golf than Watson?

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