The National Basketball Association (NBA) has announced the second instalment of its NBA Launchpad initiative, which focuses on six different priority areas to advance basketball and enhance fan experiences.

Advancing Basketball:

The league is seeking a solution to assist with predicting, preventing and rehabilitating soft tissue injuries, which comprises of over 50% of the injuries suffered by NBA athletes.

The NBA also wants to promote a healthy and positive experience for youth athletes, where they’re seeking technologies to help the next generation of athletes and coaches understand their participation through USA Basketball Youth Guidelines, which include sufficient rest and recovery time, promotion organised and peer-led play and reducing cumulative high-density in competitions.

Finally, the league is looking to work with companies who are impacting different areas in the sport, including player developments, talent discovery, officiating and health and wellness.

Enhancing Fan Experience:

As the consumption of NBA media continues to grow, the league is creating the opportunity to deepen its fanbase by using technologies to create new models of media, which enhances the way video is produced, distributed and created.

Along with media production, the league is targeting improvements in fan experiences by creating business solutions and fan activations to enhance the game-day experience.

Additionally, with sports betting growing in popularity throughout the US, the NBA is looking to create dynamic micro-betting opportunities, interactive products, which allow fans to suggest what they want to bet on and live game digital overlays to access betting accounts.

Sportradar, who were announced as one of the NBA’s official partners last year, will join the advisory board to help assess the technologies.