![\"Recentive](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1759413908_591_960x0.jpg\")
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A general inside view of Levi\u2019s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. The group behind the NFL schedule is also helping create a fresh perspective in venue design. (Photo by Michael Owens\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Getty Images<\/p>\n
When Andy Tabrizi was 12, he was busy thinking about how he could take data, analyze it in a fresh way and win $50 hustling his friends in fantasy football. There\u2019s nothing fantasy about his affiliations to major sports now. Twenty years later and the CEO of Recentive Analytics, the group behind building the NFL schedule, he\u2019s partnering with major sports organizations such as the NFL, MLB, the English Premier League and the USTA while having a hand in building out some of today\u2019s stadiums and arenas. <\/p>\n
Recentive Analytics offers forecasting and predictive modeling. \u201cRegardless of the decision, it should be rooted in a very quantifiable forecast,\u201d Tabrizi tells me, \u201chow to price a ticket, where to place a seat. If I do this here, this will happen; if I do the other thing, this other thing will happen.\u201d <\/p>\n
Forecasting models have value in sports. That\u2019s why Recentive Analytics helps the NFL build out its schedule, helping sort the best timing for marquee matchups, kickoff times and more. Last year\u2019s viewership projections from Tabrizi were within 2% of the actual numbers. That\u2019s what keeps the NFL\u2014and others\u2014coming back. And it\u2019s what\u2019s helped Recentive Analytics grow, now reaching into the ticketing space much earlier in the process. <\/p>\n
MORE: How Sports Embraces Cheese Sponsorships, The New Stadium Cheddar<\/a><\/p>\n Ticketing can be about far more than a start time or a date. At its core, it\u2019s also about the physical seat in a venue. Tabrizi is actively working with the Oklahoma City Thunder on the team\u2019s new NBA arena and the University of Oklahoma on its football stadium rebuild. He also helped the NHL\u2019s Seattle Kraken devise accurate ticket revenue forecasts based on seating types. <\/p>\n Recentive Analytics helped craft a gameplay for the Seattle Kraken upon the remodeling of what is now named Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. (Photo by Steph Chambers\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n Getty Images<\/p>\n Typically, when a team is building a new venue\u2014or substantially remodeling one\u2014they look at other teams in their league to help forecast what ticket revenue could be based on seating inventory and type. Tabrizi says that\u2019s like using the same pricing data to shop for a house in Boston as in Philadelphia. For the Kraken, instead of seeing how things work in Vancouver or San Jose, Recentive used a model analyzing data points \u201cacross what we thought matters,\u201d focusing on the local economy, job market, real estate, restaurant reservations, Airbnb prices and anything else giving an indicator of local market health. <\/p>\n \u201cOur ability to understand the market hinged on everything that had nothing to do with the hockey team,\u201d he says. \u201cWe need to look at the local market.\u201d <\/p>\n With owners\u2014and sometimes cities\u2014spending hundreds of millions or over a billion dollars on a new project, they can\u2019t afford to get the revenue model wrong. Tabrizi says he doesn\u2019t, with the modeling exceeding 97% accuracy, giving teams confidence to make decisions. <\/p>\n