SHOTTRACKER’S TOP 10 MILESTONES OF 2019
As the calendar turns to 2020, we have a chance to reflect on the last twelve months. The basketball world saw the Warriors dethroned when the Toronto Raptors brought Canada its first NBA title while the Mystics delivered Washington its first WNBA title! Meanwhile, the Baylor Lady Bears snagged their 3rd NCAA title and the Virginia Cavaliers completed their redemption tour cutting down the nets in April.
The Sports Tech industry continued to grow as rules were modified and adoption increased. Tech usage increased across training, broadcasting, advertising, gaming and education. Programs have found new and improved ways to put cutting edge tools to work for their athletes while fans enjoy new ways to engage with the sport they love.
For ShotTracker, it was a banner year. Our partner programs put up over 8 million shots in 2019!
But there is more to that story. Check out ten major milestones for ShotTracker in 2019:
Mountain West Powered by ShotTracker
The Mountain West has a history of paving the way for innovative products and ideas to
spread across the NCAA. This year the Mountain West became the first conference to
partner with ShotTracker to provide basketball data tracking and analytics
services for
all Men’s and Women’s conference basketball games and practices for five years starting
with the 2019-2020 season. Our system was installed at 23 facilities across 11 programs.
Shortly after the partnership was announced, the NCAA issued a rules waiver to the
Mountain West which opened the door for ShotTracker data to be accessed on the bench
during conference play! As Mountain West senior associate commissioner Dan Butterly put
it, “the world is changing and the game needs to change with it. We’re excited to be the
first conference to do this, but we know we won’t be the last.”
NCAA Issues Rules Waiver to Ten Conferences
The NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Rules committees have approved waiver requests
from 10 conferences permitting the use of electronically transmitted data to the
bench
for coaching purposes during the 2019-20 season. This waiver enables ShotTracker data to
be accessed on the bench during live play and represents a huge step forward for the
sport. Each of the conferences have agreed to share data collection with the NCAA Men’s
and Women’s Basketball Rules committees so it can be analyzed to gauge the impact that
the experimental rule has on the game.
Hall of Fame Classic
The Hall of Fame Classic has become a proving ground for the rest of the NCAA. 2018’s pilot paved the way for broader conference use of electronically distributed game data to the bench. This year we partnered with Vizrt and Astucemedia to power statistical visualizations on ESPN’s broadcast! The analytical breakdowns and real-time player tracking gave announcers an extra storytelling tool to connect with the fan and uncover the game within the game.
Hashtag Sports Broadcasting Award
We were honored to be shortlisted for Best Use of Technology in the inaugural Hashtag Sports Awards Presented by Budweiser. The Awards honor excellence in fan and consumer engagement. ShotTracker’s broadcast solution ranked up amongst CBS Sports: Google Assistant Ultimate Fantasy Advisor, Fox Sports World Cup Highlight Machine, IBM Watson & ESPN Fantasy Football Advisor and more. We’re excited to continue our work with tremendous partners and broadcast companies to deliver instantaneous stats and analytics on air for basketball fans everywhere.
CBS Sports Classic
The CBS Sports Classic brought together some of the winningest programs in NCAA history
as UCLA, North Carolina, Ohio State and Kentucky squared off at T-Mobile Arena in Las
Vegas.
It also featured our cutting edge technology! Coaches could leverage our real-time
insights at halftime and CBS utilized our data on air. As the calendar turns to 2020,
our futuristic technology is becoming the norm.
Spalding Hoophall Classic
The Spalding Hoophall Classic has happened for 18 years at Springfield College - the
birthplace of basketball. Over one long weekend, the top men’s and women’s highschool
teams travel to Springfield, Massachusetts and put on a show for collegiate scouts from
across the nation. This year, it got a tech upgrade! Our system was used by all teams
present and allowed coaches and fans to get instantaneous stats from each and every
game. ESPN also utilized our analytics on air. As Chris Grenham
of SB Nation put it,
“Spalding’s Hoophall Classic: Where new-age and historical hoops collide!”
Facebook Watch & Stadium Pilot Games
Modern sports fans are more informed than ever and therefore crave more relevant
information at a fast pace. With access to multiple screens at once, providing the right
information at the right time on the right platform is crucial. During Mountain West
pilot games, ShotTracker partnered up with Stadium to provide real-time player tracking
and advanced analytics on two Boise State home games streamed by Mountain West fans on
Facebook Watch. The success of these pilot games laid the foundation for the official
Mountain West conference partnership!
Sports Tech Partnerships & Integrations
We’ve partnered with Catapult Sports to combine tactical and performance analytics for
basketball teams. A key element of the partnership enables ShotTracker’s integration
with the Catapult Vision video analysis platform. The partnership will streamline data
collection, delivery, and video analysis into one consolidated solution. Additional
video editing integrations within our team app will allow teams to utilize automatic
tagging of stats and possessions in real-time. Users can drop the ShotTracker XML into
their timeline and cut up an entire practice or game instantly. Talk about a time saver.
NBA Exploring Connected Basketball Technology
In a recent article by
Bill Shea in The Athletic, Evan Wasch, the NBA’s head of
basketball strategy and analytics, was quoted saying, “There was some appetite from
teams and broadcasters to explore the connected basketball. What we’ve done is try to
put forth a plan that ultimately leads to a connected basketball down the road.” It
remains to be seen when a connected basketball would be used by the world’s best
basketball players, but our NCAA solution checks all the boxes.
ShotTracker Commercial
We’ve had the privilege of working with some great partners over the years to help our company grow. Telling that story isn’t always easy, but Let It Fly Media put together a commercial spot for us that really encapsulates what we aim to do for the sports world. Provide Every Stat. Instantly.
A big thank you to every investor and partner who has helped us reach this point. We’re excited to continue innovating with all of you in 2020 !! #StatsDontLie