Stats LLC has struck a one-year deal with Duke Univ. to install its SportVU motion tracking system at Cameron Indoor Stadium and the Krzyzewski Center for use by the men's basketball program. The deal marks the first deployment of SportVU analytics in the collegiate ranks after an initial entry in pro basketball and the recent agreement between Stats and the NBA to use the technology leaguewide. Like the NBA deal, Duke will use SportVU to create a wide range of advanced, location and speed-based statistics, including ball possession data, shot arc, and floor spacing efficiency. Duke will also use SportVU in its practices, something NBA teams have not yet done. As its NBA business for SportVU has advanced, Stats for some time has targeted college basketball as an additional growth avenue. "The college ranks obviously are taking a lot of cues from the pros and have seen the kind of success that's been achieved with SportVU already," said Stats Senior VP/Sports Solutions Brian Kopp. "So we see a lot of opportunity in colleges, certainly in the NBA arenas where colleges also play where we already have the camera systems installed." Financial terms were not disclosed for the deal, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. However, sources said the agreement is worth somewhat less than the roughly $100,000 per year NBA teams had been paying individually for SportVU prior to last month's completion of the leaguewide deal. The Duke deal was fueled in part by Charlie Rohlf, a developer at Stats that was a student manager for the basketball program as an undergraduate and has maintained close ties with the school.
