Genius Sports, the international sports data technology company, has announced a partnership with the Basketball Africa League, the new pan-continental professional league.
The deal will see Genius Sports serve as the league’s official provider of real-time BAL statistics.
The BAL is the result of a pan-African partnership between Fiba, the international basketball federation, of which Genius Sports is a partner, and North American basketball’s NBA.
As part of the new agreement, Genius Sports will provide the league with access to its Fiba LiveStats data collection tool, which will become BAL’s new digital ecosystem.
The tool will capture advanced play-by-play statistics from courtside during games including shot, foul and turnover locations, giving fans real-time updates.
The inaugural competition started in Kigali in Rwanda on 16 May and culminates with the finals in the same city on 30 May.
The league, which comprises of 12 teams from 12 countries, was meant to visit seven African cities, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, all games will be hosted in one place.
Mark Locke, chief executive of Genius Sports, said: “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. 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.”
