Finding the Firm
Schoen realized that a properly outfitted draft room could improve efficiency on draft days — and beyond. “The draft gets a lot of notoriety for the three-day window that it is, but the draft is really a nine-month process of acquiring info and strategizing around the landscape of the draft class as a whole,” says Siam. Scouts are on the road collecting data on players. That data is then aggregated by staff at the Giants training center, along with any other third-party party knowledge the team can learn about a player. “Leading up to the draft, the amount of information we’re able to get on these prospects is enormous,” says GM Joe Schoen. “Our scouts do a fabulous job talking to coaches, training staff, strength and conditioning staffs at universities, while also watching film on prospects. You bring it all together from a holistic view.”
“We will have meetings in December and February and all of April to get ready for those three days that the draft is running,” says Siam. To be able to access all of that data as the picks come and go — at a moment’s notice — while staying completely current on who’s available helps a team immensely.
“We did some research on similar rooms around the league — and really other industries as well,” says Siam. The team looked at solutions like command centers, talked to various integration firms, and gathered as much info as they could on the solution that would work for the team.
“The integrator we used was a group out of Baltimore called Image Engineering, and they were unbelievable,” says Siam. The firm laid out good, better, and best options for the room, and buy-in from upper management meant that they could specify a battery of best-in-class options, including control, AV, and videoconferencing solutions from Crestron.