SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com, Inc. company (NASDAQ: AMZN), announced that it has entered into an agreement with the National Hockey League (NHL) to become the Official Cloud, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning Infrastructure Provider of the NHL.
By tapping into the breadth and depth of AWS services, the NHL will be able to automate video processing and content delivery in the cloud and leverage its Puck and Player Tracking (PPT) System, which runs on AWS cloud infrastructure, to better capture the details of game play for its fans, teams, and media partners. The NHL will also build an enterprise video platform on AWS to aggregate video, data, and related applications into one central repository that will enable easier search and retrieval of archival video footage, give broadcasters instant access to NHL content for syndication and licensing, and facilitate the creation and delivery of new in-game analyses, predictions, and video highlights to enhance mobile, online, and broadcast experiences.
The NHL will work with the Amazon Machine Learning Solutions Lab to apply AWS’s deep portfolio of machine learning services to game video and official NHL data – including data from the NHL’s new Puck and Player Tracking (PPT) System and from the NHL’s Hockey Information & Tracking System (HITS) real-time stats – to develop and share advanced game analytics and metrics that take fans deeper into the game. In addition, the NHL intends to use AWS Elemental Media Services to develop and manage a cloud-based HD and 4K video content delivery system that will provide a complete view of the game to NHL officials, coaches, players, and fans. Powered by AWS, the system will encode, process, store, and transmit game footage from a series of new camera angles to provide continuous video feeds that capture plays and events outside the field of view of traditional broadcast cameras. In addition, by leveraging AWS analytics services including Amazon Kinesis (AWS’s service for easily collecting, processing, and analyzing video and data streams in real time) and machine learning services such as Amazon SageMaker (AWS’s service that enables data scientists and developers to build, train, and deploy machine learning models quickly), the NHL will be able to audit its feeds to broadcast partners in real time. This capability will enable the NHL to create a smart monitoring system that detects and automatically fixes potential feed issues, offering fans a seamless in-game experience across viewing platforms.
“AWS’s state-of-the-art technology and services will provide us with capabilities to deliver analytics and insights that highlight the speed and skill of our game to drive deeper fan engagement,” said NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. “AWS is unmatched in the portfolio of cloud services that it delivers, including computer vision and machine learning, and we intend to leverage them across the board to provide advanced analysis to our teams, officials, and media partners faster than ever before. We’re thrilled to have AWS join the NHL’s family of blue-chip technology partners as we continue our focus on innovation and building the most advanced technology solutions in sports.”
“AWS is working with the world’s most renowned sports leagues to better understand their data and innovate upon it using our deep portfolio of machine learning services,” said Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon Web Services, Inc. “With this agreement, AWS will provide our industry-leading cloud technology to the NHL, becoming a foundational partner in delivering NHL performance analytics and collaborating to enhance the way people experience hockey by providing more engaging content and greater insights to fans. AWS’s breadth and depth of services, our proven experience in sports analytics, and our relentless focus on innovation give the NHL the ability to bring an entirely new perspective and layer of fan involvement to the game of hockey.”
The NHL will be introducing its new analytics using AWS services and technology throughout the upcoming season. For more information, please visit www.aws.amazon.com/sports.
About Amazon Web Services
For almost 15 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. AWS has been continually expanding its services to support virtually any cloud workload, and it now has more than 200 fully featured services for compute, storage, databases, networking, analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), media, and application development, deployment, and management from 77 Availability Zones (AZs) within 24 geographic regions, with announced plans for 18 more Availability Zones and six more AWS Regions in Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Spain and Switzerland. Millions of customers—including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies—trust AWS to power their infrastructure, become more agile, and lower costs. To learn more about AWS, visit aws.amazon.com.
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.
About the NHL
The National Hockey League (NHL), founded in 1917, consists of 31 Member Clubs and proudly welcomes its 32nd franchise, the Seattle Kraken, for the 2021-22 season. Each team roster reflects the League’s international makeup with players from more than 20 countries represented, all vying for the most cherished and historic trophy in professional sports – the Stanley Cup. Every year, the NHL entertains more than 670 million fans in-arena and through its partners on national television and radio; more than 151 million followers - league, team and player accounts combined - across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube; and more than 100 million fans online at NHL.com. The League broadcasts games in more than 160 countries and territories through its rightsholders including NBC/NBCSN and the NHL Network in the U.S., Sportsnet and TVA in Canada, Viasat in the Nordic Region and CCTV and Tencent in China. The NHL reaches fans worldwide with games available online in every country including via its live and on-demand streaming service NHL.TV. Fans are engaged across the League’s digital assets on mobile devices via the free NHL App; across nine social media platforms; on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio; and on NHL.com, available in eight languages and featuring unprecedented access to player and team statistics as well as every regular-season and playoff game box score dating back to the League’s inception, powered by SAP. The NHL is committed to building healthy and vibrant communities through the sport of hockey by increasing youth participation and engagement; fostering positive family experiences; promoting inclusion, positive culture and leadership; and supporting sustainable community impact.
