U.S. National Basketball Association in stats and player tracking deal
News on 23 Sep 2016
News on 23 Sep 2016
In the United States, the National Basketball Association (NBA) announced Thursday that it has agreed a multiyear partnership with Sportradar and Second Spectrum that will expand the league’s global distribution of statistics and implement a new, league-wide player-tracking system.
Beginning with the 2017-18 season, Sportradar will make statistical information for the NBA, WNBA and NBA Development League more widely available, delivering data to fans, teams, media and other data users in more than 80 countries and territories. At that time, Sportradar will become the league’s Official Provider of Real-time NBA League Statistics.
Starting with the 2016-17 season, Sportradar will distribute NBA data and audio-visual game feeds to gaming operators outside of the U.S. where gaming is legal. The NBA will also incorporate Sportradar’s Integrity Services into its existing game integrity protection measures. These services monitor the global betting activity and trends across more than 550 operators worldwide and work with leading federations and leagues across 12 different sports.
“We will be developing a full suite of innovative products, tools and services that will bring the full depth of this league’s data around the globe,” said Carsten Koerl, Sportradar CEO.
Second Spectrum will begin installing its player-tracking system in all NBA arenas over the course of the upcoming season so that it will be fully functional by the 2017-18 season, when the company becomes the Official Optical Tracking Provider of the NBA.
Second Spectrum will provide statistics, such as speed, distance, drives, paint touches and defensive impact, based on its technology for machine understanding of sports for comprehensive analysis of players and teams. Additionally, Second Spectrum will continue to work individually with teams and league partners on providing custom solutions and products based on player-tracking data.
The NBA began using player-tracking technology in 2009 and became the first U.S. professional sports league to use player tracking for every game in 2013.
“As the interest in – and analysis of – data continues to grow around the world, we look forward to furthering the depth and reach of NBA data and analytics through our partnership with Sportradar and Second Spectrum,” said Bill Koenig, NBA President, Global Content & Media Distribution.
