Genius Sports to Become Official Provider of Real-time Basketball Africa League Statistics

- BAL Will Take Place May 16-30 in Kigali, Rwanda –

NEW YORK & DAKAR, Senegal--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Basketball Africa League (BAL) and Genius Sports today announced a data partnership that makes Genius Sports the Official Provider of Real-Time BAL Statistics. The announcement comes following the BAL’s debut, which tipped off this Sunday, May 16 at the Kigali Arena in Kigali, Rwanda, with 12 teams from across Africa competing in the new professional league. The first BAL Finals will be held Sunday, May 30.

Through this partnership, Genius Sports will provide the BAL with its FIBA LiveStats data collection tool, which will be used to capture advanced play-by-play statistics from courtside at every BAL game, including shot, foul and turnover locations to highlight the league’s top performers and provide real-time updates for fans to follow the live action.

Genius Sports is a long-term data technology partner of FIBA and its more than 200-member leagues and federations worldwide. The data captured by FIBA LiveStats will underpin the BAL’s new digital ecosystem, powering its website, live broadcasts, media partnerships and in-arena scoreboards.

“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,” said Genius Sports CEO Mark Locke. “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.”

The BAL, a pan-African partnership between the NBA and FIBA will feature 12 of the best club teams from across Africa playing a total of 26 games. Champions from the national leagues in Angola, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia earned their participation in the inaugural BAL season. The remaining six teams, which come from Algeria, Cameroon, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique and Rwanda, secured their participation through BAL qualifying tournaments conducted by FIBA Regional Office Africa across the continent in late 2019.

ENDS

About Genius Sports
Genius Sports is the official data, technology and commercial partner that powers the global ecosystem connecting sports, betting and media. We are a global leader in digital sports content, technology and integrity services. Our technology is used in over 150 countries worldwide, empowering sports to capture, manage and distribute their live data and video, driving their digital transformation and enhancing their relationships with fans.

We are the trusted partner to over 400 sports organizations globally, including many of the world’s largest leagues and federations such as the NFL, EPL, FIBA, NCAA, NASCAR, AFA and PGA.

Genius Sports is uniquely placed through cutting-edge technology, scale and global reach to support our partners. We are more than just a technology company, we build long-term relationships with sports at all levels, helping them to control and maximize the value of their content while providing technical expertise and round-the-clock support.

About the BAL
The BAL, a partnership between the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the NBA, is a new professional league featuring 12 club teams from across Africa. The BAL, which is headquartered in Dakar, Senegal, builds on the foundation of club competitions FIBA Regional Office Africa has organized in Africa and marks the NBA’s first collaboration to operate a league outside North America. Fans can follow the BAL @theBAL on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and register their interest in receiving more information at www.theBAL.com.

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