How sports data has become increasingly important over the last 20 years? Here’s why the NBA leads the way in unlocking value’

Over the last 20 years, sports data has become increasingly important to all those within the sports ecosystem.

It underpins everything from coaching and performance to betting markets and game-day broadcasts. Forward-thinking rights holders understand the commercial importance of their data, particularly amongst today’s digital savvy fans, and are increasingly using it to engineer engagement opportunities that open new revenue streams.

Today, much is made about the depth of data that rights holders can collect. Optical skeletal tracking data, RFID tracking data and even biometric data can generate hundreds of thousands of data points from a single sports match.

And, while having the technical capabilities to capture this depth of data is, of course, important, there’s little innovation taking place in that space that is going to create significant commercial value for a rights holder. Tracking data in its raw form is pretty useless – it’s simply a set of coordinates with no context as to what is happening in the game.

For rights holders, the value comes from the products and content they’re able to create off the back of that data. And creating anything meaningful requires advanced artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), deep learning, and computer vision capabilities. This technology is imperative in the quest to make sense of the data and enable richer storytelling.     

Take the work Sportradar is doing in partnership with the National Basketball Association (NBA) as an example. As the exclusive provider of NBA data worldwide, we have access to their skeletal tracking data – the level beyond centre of mass tracking data.

Processing the skeletal tracking data through our AI algorithms allows us to frame a specific game event in much greater context. We’re able to understand the detail of every player on the court – how they are stood, how they are moving, and what the likelihood is that they are going to score the next shot. And the ball – every touch, spin, and the speed it moves at. That’s what’s key – our algorithms make sense of all these things in real-time and create immersive content that transforms the sports experience for fans.

We’re working closely with the NBA to really unlock the benefits and commercial value of their tracking data.

From a betting perspective, we’re incorporating the tracking data into our odds models to enhance bookmaker margins and engineer sharper prices. We’re able to more accurately predict the probability of a game event taking place, enabling operators to manage their risk more effectively. When this is combined with an operator’s real-time and predicted liquidity, via our Alpha Odds, we’re able to provide the best possible way for them to maximise trading efficiency, bespoke to their own trading strategies.

Furthermore, the tracking data allows us to provide operators with a greater number of betting markets including ‘shot distance: o/u Steph Curry at 25ft’ and ‘fastest score o/u’. This is the level of granularity tracking data allows you to offer bettors.

It’s through our global network of betting operator clients that we’re further driving visibility of the NBA amongst bettors, turning them into fans of the game by providing more opportunities to engage with the league and bringing them closer to the action.

We’re also working with the NBA on their broadcast offering, creating live virtualised game recreations that allow fans to see entirely new perspectives of the action, from courtside to birds-eye views, to a first person look through their favourite player’s eyes. Allowing the fans to choose the angle from which they watch a broadcast and experience a game is an extremely powerful way to engage and drive subscriptions.  

And, from a coaching perspective, all 30 NBA teams have access to our Synergy Sports platform, which includes the fastest, most accurate and most detailed reports we’ve ever created for basketball performance. The recreation of body movement, court positioning and limb length with a latency of less than 30 seconds ensures teams can analyse, assess and scout performance more efficiently, improving the league’s standard of play and talent development. 

For rights holders to realise the full commercial potential of their tracking data, it is vital that they partner with a technology company that can derive new events from the tracking data itself. Companies that have the AI to derive new in-game events at speed are going to add untold value to a rights holder. 

That’s part of the value we’re driving for the NBA. We’re using our AI to plug in the tracking data and create thousands of new analysis and data points in each game. The deeper stats generated from derived data create stories that draw the fans in. It helps them understand the athlete performance at a much deeper level and brings them closer to the action.

These are the data points that get fans interested in and can be used to generate new micro-betting opportunities; sponsorship opportunities for the league; and generate broadcast stats that can be shared in real time, aiding a fan’s understanding and enjoyment of what they are watching, resulting in retaining their attention for longer.

It’s this combination of deep data and AI that opens a whole new world of opportunity for rights holders. However, they need to be mindful not to flood the marketplace with content before it is ready. Rights holders should be mindful of introducing products and services progressively, working with partners – be it betting, broadcast, or both – to educate the fanbase on the new offering and bring them along for the journey.

For the education process to be efficient, a collaborative approach, across multiple customer touch points, will speed up the process and have a longer-lasting impact. For example, during a game broadcast, the analysts discuss a particular game event that can also be offered as a betting market. This will build an affinity for players and statistics that will resonate with fans and generate authentic engagement.

Any monetisation opportunities to be had in today’s digital-first sports ecosystem rely on sports data. Rights holders that don’t collect data or rely only on rudimentary core data to fuel their fan engagement, risk falling behind more sophisticated organisations and losing fans who seek out more interesting and immersive experiences.

By Sophie Thomas