NBA And Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations Launch Strategic Partnership Powering Next-Generation Tracking Tech

The National Basketball Association and Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations, a provider of officiating and tracking technology in sports, have formed a multi-year partnership, beginning with the 2023-24 season, to deploy Hawk-Eye’s 3D optical tracking technology that will, for the first time, enable NBA tracking data to capture the game in real-time in three dimensions, including the movement of each player on the court and the ball, all at sub-second latency, they say. This technology will provide the opportunity to enhance officiating by increasing the accuracy of calls, and the speed of gameplay, including, in future seasons, through automated calls on plays such as out-of-bounds and goaltending, they add.

The introduction of Hawk-Eye’s state-of-the-art “pose” data capture product will provide the NBA and its teams with new applications in basketball analytics that will help evolve how we understand on-court data and give fans a real look into the action on the court and deeper analysis of the game. The data generated will also provide collaboration opportunities between the NBA and Sony’s Sports Businesses around virtual game recreations, dynamic visualizations, unique content development and gamification.

“We view it as a real privilege to partner with the NBA – a truly iconic global brand and a leader in innovative sports content,” said Rufus Hack, CEO of Sony’s Sports Businesses. “We look forward to helping them unlock the power of data to continue to enhance officiating and basketball analytics, as well as to drive new immersive fan experiences.”

“We are thrilled to partner with Sony’s Sports Businesses to leverage Hawk-Eye’s cuttingedge 3D optical tracking data,” said Evan Wasch, NBA EVP of basketball strategy and analytics. “This data will enhance our officiating, power significant insights for our teams, and create a dynamic data set that will improve our game and enable unique engagement opportunities for NBA fans.”

Hawk-Eye has worked closely with the NBA since 2019 in a proof-of-concept capacity to fully develop and test its basketball tracking systems. Hawk-Eye said that through data collection at NBA Summer League and six NBA arenas, it “demonstrated and developed a system that meets the accuracy and latency needed to provide best-in-class ball and pose tracking to the NBA.”

Sportradar, the league’s exclusive data provider, will also play a critical role in working alongside Hawk-Eye to allow for the generation of accurate, reliable, low-latency tracking data, and the application of best-in-class expertise to automatically generate events, metrics, advanced stats and new engaging insights.