Big Data Bowl | NFL Football Operations

The Eighth Annual Big Data Bowl

This year’s competition highlights a new pathway for leveraging Next Gen Stats (NGS). For the first time, the participants will predict player movement by using data before the football is thrown to produce insights on where players will move while the football is in the air. Data will be available from the 2023 and 2024 NFL seasons, with predictions evaluated against this year’s outcomes (Weeks 14-18). Also, for the first time, applicants can enter a public leaderboard, which evaluates the accuracy of submissions by comparing predicted to actual player locations, as determined using NGS.

Previous competitions have analyzed running backs, defensive backs, special teams, pass rush plays and tackling, and have generated metrics that have been used by NFL teams and incorporated into live games. During a game, both teams divulge patterns before the snap and participants are challenged to determine those patterns from player tracking data corresponding to pre-snap team and player tendencies.

See last year’s Big Data Bowl finalists.

As in the 2019-2025 Big Data Bowls, the 2026 Big Data Bowl is hosted by Kaggle, the world’s largest community of machine learning practitioners, learners, and researchers.

Participants can select one of two analytics tracks in which to submit:

• University track – This is open only to groups or individuals composed entirely of undergraduate or graduate students. Verification may be required to prove eligibility.
• Broadcast visualization track – This track generates an animation, video, or chart that best visualizes the movement of players with the ball in the air.

“Now in our eighth year, we are elevating the Big Data Bowl with a first-of-its-kind prediction competition, offering participants a unique journey through an NFL play,” said Mike Lopez, senior director of football data & analytics at the NFL. “With these additions, we hope to gain the attention of amateur and expert analysts alike, bringing out the best in sports analytics to drive innovation in our game.”