Sam M
- Research Program Mentor

Industry expert at Syracuse University

Expertise

I have a strong passion for data analytics and exploration across the sports landscape, with a focus on the NFL, NBA, MLB, PGA, and UFC. I enjoy uncovering insights, identifying trends, and analyzing the numbers that drive the game. Beyond analytics, I’m also deeply interested in the business side of sports, including strategic sponsorships, ticketing, and marketing. Additionally, I have a keen appreciation for the intersection of sports, music, and pop culture, recognizing the powerful connections between these industries.

Bio

Hi everyone! My name is Sam Marteka and I graduated from Syracuse University in May 2021 with a Sport Analytics degree and minors in Strategic Management, Sport Management, and Sport Revenue Operations. I've worked at sports properties such as DraftKings, Kraft Analytics Group, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Travelers Championship, Syracuse University Athletic Department, Orleans Firebirds, and Learfield. I have been involved in a variety of sport research projects and papers and have industry specific skills in Microsoft Office (Excel, PPT, Word), R, Python, Tableau, Web Scraping, Data Visualization, Data Cleaning/Wrangling, Blog/Social Media/Journalism writing, and more! I have also presented research at a few conferences with classmates and professors. I love to cook, watch/play sports, play video games, collect sports cards, and follow the stock and crypto markets.

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Sport Contract and Player Valuation

This project focuses on predicting sports contracts by leveraging data science and financial modeling techniques. Students will gather and clean data on player performance, historical contracts, and market conditions, applying statistical analysis and machine learning to build predictive models. The project involves feature engineering, model development, and evaluation, with the aim of understanding key variables that influence contract values. Outcomes include a research paper, predictive models, data visualization dashboards, and presentations, providing insights into the economic dynamics of sports contracts and equipping students with practical skills in data analysis and financial forecasting.

Analyzing Prime Time & Game of the Week Game Totals in the NFL

Exploring how run totals in NFL betting markets are set based on the time of game & national exposure. This project will teach you how to work on an analytical project from start to finish, using web scraping, data cleaning and wrangling, data visualization, and a variety of other skills using score data and betting data from a historical sample of NFL games.

Coding skills

Intermediate Python, R, Tableau, Excel, SQL, Linear and Logistic Regression Modeling/Analysis

Languages I know

N/A

Teaching experience

• Completed 8 sport analytics research projects in Polygence • Led a group of high school students through three weeks of analytical activities using Excel, R, and Tableau software • Worked in a fully virtual environment through the coronavirus pandemic, meeting with students over Zoom for 6 weeks • Supervised 15 students focusing on four areas of analysis: ticketing (TicketMaster), social media (Twitter), and account executive performance (daily revenue reporting) for Syracuse Athletics • Help first-year students organize study habits for their assignments and exams on a weekly basis • Teach students new and exciting research-based study strategies to maximize the productivity of their study sessions • Trained by CLASS academic learning specialists about ways to interact and teach new students how to stay on top of their studies • Served as a Peer Advisor for 10 incoming Sport Analytics freshman in the 2018-19 school year • Work as a student representative for my major, Sport Analytics, and talked to families and prospective students about the program • Attend prospective student meetings acting as a resource for the Sport Analytics major

Credentials

Work experience

DraftKings (2024 - Current)

Marketing Analytics

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2021 - 2022)

Corporate Partnerships and Sponsorship Strategy Intern

Travelers Championship (2021 - 2021)

Communications Center Supervisor

LEARFIELD (2019 - 2021)

Property Assistant - Syracuse University

Education

Syracuse University

BS Bachelor of Science (2021)

Sport Analytics

Interested in working with expert mentors like Sam?

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Sam M - Research Program Mentor