Chapters Committees Sections Home Statistics in Sports Sports statisticians for teams do not require the academic training of most professional statisticians in statistical theory, models and applications. Their primary role is as a collector and validator of data. Their secondary role is in identifying newsworthy items of statistical interest at the level of exploratory data analysis.
Every major network has one or more sports statisticians that work on a full-time basis.
Sports data agencies accumulate sports results and supply the leagues and the media with relevant information to suit the clients' needs. An opportunity for growth is in the use of hands-on computers to record the actions directly at the game site. This has added computer operators and software technicians to the game site. Another outlet for statistics and sports is in sports journalism. In a recent questionnaire distributed by the ASA Statistics in Sports section, several sports statisticians agreed that the best way to get started is to gain experience by performing a sports statistician's role on a voluntary or pro bono basis.