NBA Selects SAP to Develop Unprecedented NBA.com Statistical Experience for Fans

SOURCE: PRNewswire

WALLDORF, Germany and NEW YORK, July 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) today announced that the league has selected the SAP HANA® platform to develop an unprecedented statistical experience for its fans on NBA.com. The real-time data platform will enable the league to bring virtually unlimited amounts of official NBA statistical information directly to fans’ fingertips on the league’s official website.

In addition, the NBA and SAP announced a new multiyear marketing partnership that will make SAP the Official Business Analytics Software Partner of the NBA. The partnership includes the Women’s National Basketball Association and the NBA Development League and will allow SAP to connect with the passionate fan bases of all three leagues. Along with the U.S, the partnership extends to several international markets, including Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India and Russia.

“We are constantly researching new and emerging technologies in an effort to provide our fans with new ways to connect with our game,” said NBA Commissioner David Stern. “SAP is a leader in providing innovative software solutions and an ideal partner to provide a dynamic and comprehensive statistical offering as fans interact with NBA basketball on a global basis.”

“SAP is honored to partner with the NBA, one of the world’s most respected sports organizations,” said  Bill McDermott, co-CEO, SAP. “Through SAP HANA, fans will be able to experience the NBA as never before. This is a slam dunk for SAP, the NBA and the many fans who will now have access to unprecedented insight and analysis.”

The NBA statistics team will implement SAP HANA to run the league’s enhanced statistical offering on NBA.com, which previously was accessible only to NBA employees and select media members. NBA fans will be able to access large volumes of statistical information and analysis tools on the SAP HANA platform, which will enhance their overall experience.

Furthermore, the NBA has also selected SAP® BusinessObjects™ business intelligence (BI) solutions for advanced analysis with SAP BusinessObjects Explorer® software and SAP® Data Services software. By utilizing SAP HANA to power official NBA statistics on NBA.com, and SAP BusinessObjects Explorer and SAP Data Services to enhance data quality, the NBA will provide fans with access to an innovative and easy-to-use statistical platform for their desktop, tablet or mobile device. The project is scheduled to launch during the 2012-13 season.

NBA.com also will utilize market-leading BI software from SAP to provide unparalleled statistical analysis of the league’s entire history to fans. As the presenting partner of the statistics section of NBA.com, SAP software will give fans a user-friendly interface to access and analyze official league, team and player data in real time. SAP will also help fans searching for key statistics via their mobile devices as the presenting partner of the statistics section of the NBA Game Time mobile application.

Throughout the year SAP solutions will deliver real-time data across the NBA’s entire global operations, encompassing media, special events, mobility, social media, player and team statistics, technology and fan interactions.

Also as part of the marketing partnership, SAP will serve as an associate partner of NBA All-Star, the NBA Draft and the NBA Cares All-Star Day of Service. Additionally, SAP will be a partner of NBA China Games 2012, which includes two games between the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Clippers in Beijing (October 11) and Shanghai (October 14), and NBA Europe Live 2012 presented by BBVA™ game in Berlin between the Dallas Mavericks and Alba Berlin (October 6).

For additional information regarding SAP HANA and in-memory computing technology, visit the Experience SAP HANA page. For more information, visit the SAP Newsroom.

About the NBA
The NBA is a global sports and media business that features three professional sports leagues: the National Basketball Association, the Women’s National Basketball Association, and the NBA Development League. The league has established a major international presence, with offices in 15 markets worldwide, games and programming in 215 countries and territories in 47 languages, and NBA merchandise for sale in more than 125,000 stores in 100 countries on six continents. Current NBA rosters feature 78 international players from 39 countries and territories. The NBA’s digital assets include NBA TV, which is available in nearly 60 million U.S. homes, and NBA.com, which averages more than 35 million page views per day, more than half of which originate from outside of North America. The NBA is the No. 1 professional sports league on social media, with more than 240 million fans and followers globally across all league, team, and player platforms. Through NBA Cares, the league and its teams and players have donated more than $190 million to charity, completed more than 1.9 million hours of hands-on community service, and created more than 700 places where kids and families can live, learn, or play.

About SAP
As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 195,000 customers (includes customers from the acquisition of SuccessFactors) to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

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© 2012 by SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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For more information, press only:
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Carmine N. Tiso, NBA, +1 (212) 407-8208, ctiso@nba.com, EDT