NBA hosting an analytics hackathon for college students in September

College students at accredited universities in the U.S. will have an opportunity to show of their creative and technical skills to a panel of expert judges.

Read about the latest sports tech news, innovations, ideas and products that impact players, fans and the sports industry at SportTechie.com.

Subscribe to the
SportTechie Newsletter

Subscribe

• Rating NBC's Olympics coverage
• Ford launches VR racing app
• Vicis pulls helmets from Huskies camp

Data and analytics have become a sexy topic in the era of Moneyball. Teams and leagues everywhere are finding ways to revamp their organizations from a data-first mindset. The NBA is the latest example, with their newly announced Hackathon, where engineers, statisticians and data scientists can come together and compete for who can come up with the most innovative solutions to problems in basketball analytics.

“Our fans continue to show an increasing level of interest in data and analytics which provides a level of engagement,” Jason Rosenfeld, NBA director of basketball analytics, said in a statement. “We think that by bringing together some of the most talented young minds for a full day to build tools and develop solutions in the field of basketball analytics, we can continue to innovate, which is something that the NBA has embraced for a very long time.”

The event will be taking place on Saturday, Sept. 24, in New York City. It will be open to undergraduate and graduate students who are studying at accredited universities in the United States. The question they will be trying to create a solution for has yet to be unveiled. Each team’s work will be presented to a panel of judges, members of the NBA League Office, the media, invited guests and other competitors. The top three teams will win the allotted prized as well as a tour of the NBA League Office and will get to meet with NBA staff members.

Calling all undergrad & grad students- we're looking for participants in our 1st ever Basketball Analytics Hackathon https://t.co/2bSox1BI58

— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) August 11, 2016

While the NBA will get numerous ideas that could assist in the growth of analysis of all sorts of data in their organization, the event is also meant to showcase the competitors’ skills and abilities in the field.