March Madness 2022: ESPN to Use Second Spectrum Optical Tracking and Augmented Reality Graphics at Women’s Final Four, National Championship

The Genius Sports-owned division powers immersive on-screen look to women’s tourney

As the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament readies to tip off on Wednesday, ESPN announced that it will be partnering with Genius Sports to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) tracking data and augmented reality (AR) graphics into an alternative live presentation of the Women’s Final Four and National Championship Game.

ESPN is partnering with Genius Sports’ Second Spectrum to add data-powered graphics to alternate live broadcasts of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four games and the National Championship game. (Image Provided by ESPN)

This marks the first time that live augmented video feeds will be distributed for coverage of women’s basketball. According to an official press release, ESPN will produce an alternative live broadcast of each Final Four game, as well as the National Championship, that will display this enhanced data.

“Expanding our relationship with Second Spectrum to support the Women’s Tournament and their fans is another exciting first for us,” ESPN VP, Sports Business Development and Innovation Kevin Lopes said in an official release. “The augmented feeds for the NCAA Women’s Final Four and National Championship game will provide fans with an exciting viewing option that leans into innovative stats and visuals.”

ESPN will select from a variety of data-driven graphics, including real-time shot probabilities and shot distances. (Image Provided by ESPN)

ESPN will be able to select from a variety of data-driven graphics, including real-time shot probabilities and shot distances. The data is obtained through optical tracking technology that locates and transmits the coordinated of every player on the court and the ball.

Second Spectrum offers a similar tracking and AR graphics product for both the NBA and Turner Sports’ March Madness Live streaming service. ESPN has worked with Genius Sports’ Second Spectrum before in last year’s ‘Marvel’s Arena of Heroes’ telecast. This activation, however, marks a first for women’s sports.

“We are proud to work with ESPN, through the best-in-class work Second Spectrum does, to give the millions of fans young and old, an immersive experience for March Madness that will set a new course not just for the NCAA Championships, but for all of sport that is played by women the world over,” Genius Sports CEO Mark Locke said in the press release. “It is a new high bar that we will push, and there is no better place to raise that bar than the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament with ESPN.”

Genius Sports has been the exclusive supplier of official data for the NCAA since 2018 and developed the NCAA LiveStats tool, which will be court-side at every game of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.