What a crazy idea, right? What if all the MLSs competed every four years to see who was the best? A race for the gold! Some friends are setting up a new Olympic Sport and I am following their progress, watching how that’s done. It’s an interesting process. It starts with a World Championship series on all five continents where the best in each country compete to be the best on their continent. That happens every four years during the Olympic Off Years and is the feeder process for picking the Olympic team. So there is a huge infrastructure of people, buildings, rules, marketing; all the things.
For MLSs, what if we took the regions in the nine regions, as defined by the Oracle of Swanepoel. Each region would host competitions in the approved “Olympic Sports”. The regional winners form the Olympic Team from each country, and they move up to compete in the Olympics. I love it. The big question for me is:
What are the MLS Olympic Sports? The real Olympics have these criteria:
- International Popularity: The sport should have global appeal with widespread participation and fanbase.
- History and Tradition: The sport should have a significant level of history and tradition, indicating a solid foundation.
- Governance and Organization: The sport should be governed by an international federation complying with the Olympic Charter, demonstrating effective organization, anti-doping efforts, and ethical practices.
- Athlete Representation: The sport should provide equal opportunities for both male and female athletes, promoting gender equality.
- Technical Requirements: The sport should have standardized rules, a well-defined competition format, and suitable facilities.
- Appeal to Youth: The sport should attract the younger generation, keeping the Olympic program dynamic.
- Media Coverage and Public Interest: The sport should generate sufficient media coverage and public interest globally.
- Anti-Doping Compliance: The International Federation of the sport must adhere to anti-doping regulations and ensure a clean and fair competition environment.
Given those criteria, we can put together some ideas:
- Data Downhill (syndication):
- Definition: A prime function of any MLS is distributing our Subscriber’s data to the various websites that display the listings. There are literally hundreds of them from Zillow to the smallest Mom & Pop IDX vendor.
- Competition: A draft listing is prepared and, at the whistle, is added to the competitor’s system. Auditors from Accenture and the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research (ISR) measure how many microseconds it takes for all accounts to receive, and display, the new listing, with attachments and media.
- Sharpshooting (accuracy):
- Definition: The center of confidence and integrity, data accuracy is a feature of any MLS system and without it nothing else matters.
- Competition: Auditors from Accenture analyze a sample of listing data using a carefully guarded randomized selection formula (alphabetize by street number and pick the last 30 odd-numbered MLS numbers). Check the address against CASS, the price against an AVM, the lat/long against the GeoCode, required fields against known datasets, etc. The winner has the highest composite score.
- Prose (remarks):
- Definition: The description of the property for sale is a rare opportunity for creativity. From Haribo Sugar-Free Gummy Bears to Three Wolf Moon t-shirts, Amazon reviews are rich sources for creative writing. Realtors have few chances to add value in the rapid-fire process of marketing a house. Public Remarks is a rare example.
- Competition: Professional copyrighters (or ChatGPT) review a carefully selected (#2) cohort of Public Remarks are selected and analyzed for 72, or a number that can be factored into 72, elements of style. The winner has the highest composite score.
- Aesthetics (media):
- Definition: Photos, videos, virtual tours, are the data elements that get all the attention. The quality of the media probably matters more than anything, besides the price, when marketing a property.
- Competition: AI photo tools line up to do their best. A Jury of Visual Artists scores all media for beautifulness. The winner has the highest composite score.
What else? This is fun. I want to do it now, maybe in Salt Lake City or Lake Placid like the Winter Olympics.
