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Genius Sports has maintained its strategy of global expansion by securing a partnership with the Basketball Africa League (BAL), taking on the responsibilities of Official Provider of Real Time BAL Statistics.
A long time data partner of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and its 200-member leagues and federations, Genius will build on its presence in the sports via the new agreement to provide the BAL with its FIBA LiveStats data collection tool, used to capture advanced play-by-play statistics from courtside at every fixture.
These statistics will include shot, foul and turnover locations, in order to highlight the league’s top performers and provide real-time updates for fans following live matches.
Data captured via the FIBA LiveStats will support the BAL’s new digital ecosystem, playing a role in powering its website, live broadcasts, media partnerships and in-arena scoreboard displays.
“The BAL will showcase and develop the most exciting basketball talent from across Africa and we’re very proud that our statistics technology will be at the heart of this new competition,” said Genius Sports CEO Mark Locke.
“For more than 15 years, we have worked closely with FIBA to drive the development of world basketball and we’re thrilled to be working alongside the BAL to extend the sport’s reach and profile.”
Making its debut on 16 May at the Kigali Arena in Rwanda’s capital city, the BAL is a pan-African partnership between the National Basketball Association (NBA) and FIBA, and will feature 12 teams from across the continent competing in a total of 26 games throughout the month, with the first finals scheduled to take place on 30 May.
The partnership with the BAL follows Genius’ acquisition of Second Spectrum – an official analytics partner of the NBA, Major League Soccer (MLS) and English Premier League – earlier this month for $200 million.
In April, the firm successfully registered on the New York Stock Exchange, surpassing its $1.5 billion targeting evaluation, and subsequently published its first financial results as a publicly listed company, reporting a revenue increase of 30% to $149 million.
