Big Data Bowl

The crowd-sourced competition uses data and technology to spur innovation that results in creating new insights, making the game more exciting for fans and protecting players from unnecessary risk.

Powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS), contestants use traditional football data and Next Gen Stats to analyze and rethink trends and player performance, while also advancing the way football is played and coached. The Big Data Bowl aims to engage and empower the football analytics community to drive innovation.

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.”

The Big Data Bowl Structure

Each year, the NFL Big Data Bowl calls on professional and aspiring amateur data scientists to devise innovative approaches to a specific challenge. Participants propose statistical, data-driven solutions using real-time data across a wide variety of players, plays and situations.

The call for participants typically is in the fall and the competition runs into early January. Participants can work independently or form teams with other colleagues.

NFL club analytics staff judge each submission and work with NFL Football Operations staff to narrow down the finalists. Finalists then present their entry at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis to a panel of judges. In recent years, judges have included NFL Network predictive analytics expert, Cynthia Frelund, former Big Data Bowl participants, AWS data scientists and NFL linebacker Najee Goode.

Contestants in each year’s Big Data Bowl compete for $100,000 in prize money and the chance to present to NFL teams at the upcoming NFL Scouting Combine. Even if participants do not finish as a finalist, the Big Data Bowl has served as a pipeline with NFL teams or their affiliate vendors.

Stay tuned to hear more about the 2026 Big Data Bowl competition by following the NFL Football Operations Facebook and X (Twitter) accounts.