Fansided

sportsQ aims to make fantasy sports players smarter

By Derek Helling

Sep 12, 2015; Dallas, TX, USA; A general view of the DraftKings sign board during the match with FC Dallas playing against New York City FC at Toyota Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 12, 2015; Dallas, TX, USA; A general view of the DraftKings sign board during the match with FC Dallas playing against New York City FC at Toyota Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports /
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The expansion of the application of technology continues to innovate fantasy sports, and sportsQ figures to be a significant factor in that perpetual evolution.

The pending beta launch of sportsQ could up the ante for fans who play fantasy MLB and NFL games. The platform’s features make it easier than ever for fans to not only stay abreast of developments in games, but do research to improve their strategies as well.

The artificial intelligence and natural-language processing technology incorporated into sportsQ is a classic example of the moniker, “necessity is the mother of invention.” Founder Don C. Williams is an experienced fantasy sports player who became frustrated with the difficulty of doing research and adjusting his strategy in real-time as games were in progress.

“Having played fantasy sports for many years myself, it was hard to find all the information that I wanted using the channels available at the time,” Williams explained. “It was very tedious and time-consuming. That was when I stumbled upon some NLP technology generated by Nick Cassimatis. He was the founder of SkyPhrase, a NLP company which was acquired by Yahoo! that we had been working with prior to their acquisition. I thought it could be used for fantasy sports very easily. I approached and with help from some of the people he worked with, convinced him that fantasy sports would be a great use for the technology.”

The result is a deep-diving, highly-customizable, on-demand service for fantasy sports players. For example, users could enter a query of all NFL quarterbacks who threw for at least 300 yards and two touchdowns in road games at Miami over the past five seasons. The results would be instantly returned to the user. The usage of sportsQ goes beyond just research, however.

Users of sportsQ will also be able to utilize Facebook messenger and Twitter account integration to make queries for sportsQ, as well as set up custom alerts. Again, as an example, a player who has Yoenis Cespedes in a FanDuel DFS entry could use sportsQ to be notified via text message when Cespedes records a hit. Additionally, both the daily and season-long entries of fantasy players on sites like DraftKings and FanDuel can be integrated into sportsQ for the user to stay on top of.

While sportsQ will be very useful for fantasy sports, betting on sporting events is another potential use that Williams envisions for his product.

“The platform is ready to go for gambling on sports,” Williams stated. “Users will be able to use the same functions with the notifications and everything else in that way.”

The product is scheduled for beta launch in time for the 2017-18 NFL regular season, in late August or early September. It will feature free downloads for both iOS and Android devices with desktop availability as well. Registration for the basic level of service will also be free of charge, with potential subscription costs accompanying heavy usage of sportsQ’s platform to come. While only NFL and MLB are going to be incorporated upon launch, Williams stated that he hopes to add fantasy basketball, hockey, soccer and cricket.

Looking further into sportsQ’s future, Williams stated that he hopes to eventually monetize the product with ad content tied to the notifications and query results, along with sponsorships. Williams also denoted that he hopes that video highlights will accompany notifications as well.

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The power of advanced analytics and statistics have improved the quality of on-diamond and on-field results for MLB and NFL players and teams. With sportsQ, DFS players and eventually sports bettors can start to utilize some of the same tools.