The NBA has struck a multiyear partnership with SAP in which the German software giant will support a broad new statistical engine on NBA.com. Real-time advanced statistical analytics, available to credentialed NBA media for the past six months, will now become accessible and free to the public on NBA.com using SAP's database technology product HANA. The data, continually updated and linked to video, will be free to users and monetized through ad sales on NBA.com. Data is expected to be fully available around the start of the '12-13 NBA season.
SAP additionally signed a marketing deal with the league giving it category rights as the NBA's official business analytics software partner. Financial terms were not disclosed. "This partnership answers a dramatic need of our fans to have access to this kind of powerful data," said NBA Exec VP/Operations & Technology Steve Hellmuth. "The way the data is stored in the memory, there are no bottlenecks and really allows to go to scale with this kind of information."
Through the marketing deal, SAP will also become an associate partner of the NBA All-Star Game, NBA Draft and annual NBA Cares All-Star Day of Service. Hellmuth said the new SAP deal does not conflict with the league's existing pact with HP, which primarily covers the personal computer hardware and printer categories.
