“The secret of happiness, I’d always suspected, the essence of beauty or truth, or all we ever need to know of either, lay somewhere in that moment when the ball is in midair, when both boxers sense the approach of the bell, when the runners near the finish line and the crowd rises as one. There’s a kind of exuberant clarity in that pulsing half second before winning and losing are decided. I wanted that, whatever that was, to be my life, my daily life.”
-Phil Knight
Mitchell Bley is an experienced, dedicated, and passionate sports information professional who excels in accurate statistical analysis and film review.
Mitchell has dedicated his professional life to the sports world and coverage of the ins and outs of the game. You can see this not only through his roles with companies such as ESPN and the National Football League, but also through his educational background earning a Master’s degree in sports management from the University of Kansas.
National Football League
2019 – Current
While working at the NFL, Mitchell wore many hats including auditing live game action to produce the most accurate player statistics possible, coding of players’ head impacts to be used for the player health and safety department, and film dissection/construction for NFL scouting departments.
Pro Football Focus
2018 – Current
As an analyst with Pro Football Focus his role has been to assess game film across the NCAA and NFL in order to analyse many things including player participation, live player tracking, blocking analysis, and route running analysis.
ESPN
2016–2018
As a statistical analyst at ESPN the vast majority of his time was spent doing real-time data management and data curation. This role encompassed a multitude of sports including football (both NCAA and NFL), baseball (both NCAA and MLB), basketball (both NCAA and NBA), and many more. In addition, he was building statistical packets to be used on air for the major events happening each day.
For more background information on Mitchell, including his educational history and other positions he has held, please click the resume tab at the top of the page.