Google Cloud Named Official Cloud Provider of NCAA and Partners Turner Sports, CBS Sports

The NCAA, in partnership with Turner Sports and CBS Sports, announced Google Cloud as its official cloud provider, and will use Google Cloud’s machine learning, analytics, and data services to better serve the needs of its colleges and universities, athletic teams, and fan base. Through this partnership, more than 80 years’ worth of statistical game and competition data across the 90 championships and 24 sports the NCAA administers will be migrated to Google Cloud.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) services like BigQuery, Cloud Spanner, Datalab, Cloud ML, and Cloud Dataflow will be used to power the analysis of NCAA data which will enable fans and NCAA members to search, compare, and analyze team and player performance, as well as receive near real-time simulations in new and unparalleled ways. Additionally, the NCAA also plans to use this data to create analysis workflows to build descriptive, predictive, and diagnostic outputs that will help objectively determine and analyze the selection and seeding process across men’s and women’s sports.

In addition to the multi-year technology agreement, Google Cloud will become the official NCAA Cloud Partner, with the relationship tipping off during the 2017-18 NCAA Division I men’s and women’s basketball seasons. NCAA fans, players, and commentators will be able to experience some of these new advancements in data analytics and insights during and after March Madness.

“We’re looking forward to Google Cloud, one of the most globally recognized brands, joining the Corporate Champions and Partners Program as this relationship will involve the migration of our sports data to the cloud,” says Dan Gavitt, NCAA SVP for basketball. “Our NCAA information technology staff will work with Google Cloud on several platform integrations of our basketball tournament information that will enhance the way we provide interesting and fun data to fans.”

“Google Cloud will allow us to migrate decades of historical sports data,” says NCAA chief information officer Judd Williams. “We’ll work with Google Cloud’s team to create new ways that fans will be able to access and search data surrounding March Madness and more, and we will continue to discuss data-driven strategies across multiple content platforms that will enhance digital experiences in other areas.”

“By leveraging Google Cloud’s expertise in data analytics, machine learning, and AI, the NCAA will find new ways to enhance decision-making capabilities across multiple athletic programs – from the selection and seeding process to programming,” says Tariq Shaukat, president, global alliances and industry platforms, Google Cloud. “We’re excited to be part of the NCAA’s digital transformation where they can use data and deep insights to better engage with millions of fans, nearly half-million college athletes, and over 19,000 teams that make up the NCAA.”

“This exciting collaboration will further enhance the passion and excitement of NCAA athletics through Google Cloud’s unrivaled insights, and data analytics technology,” says Will Funk, EVP of property marketing and corporate partnerships at Turner Sports. “With Google Cloud, we’ll be able to deliver an unprecedented level of real-time insights across every platform, making college sports more accessible, engaging and fun for viewers and fans around the world.”

“As the result of this multi-layered partnership, Google Cloud, the NCAA, CBS Sports, and Turner Sports will be able to provide college sports participants, administrators and fans more data-driven touch points than ever before,” says Chris Simko, SVP, sports sales and marketing, CBS. “Allowing these constituencies to interact with, manipulate, and socialize such rich content in real-time is an exciting prospect for all of us.”