Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC), custodians of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), announced today that it has extended its partnership with Gemba for another 12 months to manage and delivery of the Club’s data, analytics and business intelligence functions.
As home of many of the biggest events on the Australian and global calendar – from the 1956 Olympics and 2006 Commonwealth Games, to the 2020 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Final, and annually the AFL Grand Final and Boxing Day Test, plus major concerts such as Ed Sheeran and Guns N’ Roses – the MCG’s status as a sports and entertainment icon is undisputed.
The partnership between Gemba and the MCC builds on the last 12 months where Gemba has accelerated the venue’s capabilities to capture, manage, analyse and interpret the vast array of data generated at each event and across the business to inform and improve decision-making.
From optimising match-day operations, improving attendee experience and supporting MCC Members, to financial reporting and informing long-term strategic direction, unlocking the insights and value in data adds significant value across the MCC.
Gemba assists and enables the MCC to leverage data to improve decision-making across the MCC’s business units and explore innovation in data capture and analysis. The partnership also works to improve the MCG event experience for patrons, including members and general attendees, as well as using data to improve the MCC’s understanding of the use and performance of the MCG, Australian Sports Museum and surrounding precinct infrastructure.
MCC CEO Stuart Fox said “the partnership with Gemba is helping the MCC to accelerate its aspiration to be a more data driven business. As a venue we collect a lot of event data and it’s critical that we use it to make evidence-based decisions to continually provide the world’s best stadium, services and facilities to our customers”.
Mark Zucco, Head of Strategy, Data & Analytics at Gemba, said the partnership brings Gemba’s data analytics, research, insights and strategy capabilities together to support the MCC across the full range of sport and entertainment experiences hosted at the venue.
“My earliest live sporting memories were at the MCG as a kid, so to partner with the MCC is a dream opportunity for me personally and professionally, and also a great proof point for Gemba as we continue to expand our Data & Analytics practice,” Zucco said.
“We are also really excited to be partnering with an organisation that has such a clear focus on environmental sustainability in sport and entertainment, which is also a key pillar in Gemba’s organisational vision.”
The MCG is a signatory to the United Nations Sports for Climate Change Action Framework and is committed to operating the iconic venue in a sustainable manner and serving as a world leader when it comes to environmental performance.