How a Sports Tech Company Is Helping a Team in the Aftermath of Hurricane Maria

In September of 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico and other parts of the Caribbean. A huge portion of the country was left without power and thousands of people were killed. In such harrowing times, professional sports are understandably not the highest priority for most.

This was the situation that the BSN (Baloncesto Superior Nacional) — the country’s largest professional basketball league — found itself in at the time. The eight-team league faced a series of difficult decisions regarding its immediate future. With bigger priorities taking up the majority of its time, one issue the league faced from a digital perspective was creating and distributing highlights on social media.

This is where WSC Sports saw an opportunity to step in.

WSC Sports is currently an industry leader in AI-powered sports video content, which offers clients automated creation and distribution of video highlights. WSC’s machine-learning technology enables clients to capture video of every key play and player in games and automatically create highlights to be shared across digital and social platforms. Thus, clients save what could be hundreds of hours of sorting and editing individual highlights.

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After the hurricane, WSC offered its services to BSN free of charge in order to help the league serve the fans across Puerto Rico and all over the world.

WSC’s technology identifies moments in the game and generates engaging video content based on pre-defined rules put forth by BSN’s content team, which are then posted and shared across the web and social media. BSN does give WSC some ad space during broadcasts in return, but the Israel-based tech company does not receive monetary payment for the partnership.

“We are excited to have the opportunity to use this platform to greatly improve our digital coverage and get our product out to our fans instantly,” said Fernando Quiñones, president of BSN. “We thank WSC for reaching out to us during this difficult time; their impact has been overwhelmingly positive to our efforts as we continue to recover. This gives us an opportunity to effectively display our product, catch up with current technological needs and get noticed around the world.”

Because of this move from WSC, BSN now has the capability to reach more fans via social channels and create video content that it previously did not have the capabilities to produce easily.

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“We are pleased to offer our technology platform to BSN to help them engage and connect with basketball fans across Puerto Rico, especially as the region recovers from Hurricane Maria,” said Shaka Arnon, head of U.S. operations for WSC Sports. “WSC Sports is committed to helping our partners bring the fans closer to the games and players they love, by enabling real-time, in-game video creation and distribution.”

The sports/tech world has taken note of this generous act and praises the benefits for both sides.

“What a great example of both technologies helping in the time of a disaster and sports doing good,” said Joe Centeno, art director of Team Infographics. “WSC also is able to showcase their services to an organization that may not have been on their radar. It also shows an example of being ready when an opportunity arises.”

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It’s often easy to be cynical about the nature of professional sports and the business behind it. Every now and then, things like this move by WSC help us keep things in perspective.

“There are things more important than money. We can lose sight of that in sports sometimes, but it’s such a big part of connecting and working toward mutual goals,” Arnon added. “Maybe this is just a game, but there’s something beyond it. When a major sports property or league faces a situation like BSN did, it’s a heavy price to pay for any country. So, this is just our modest way of helping them keep going and helping the country return to normalcy.”

Learn more about WSC by visiting its website. The new season of BSN basketball begins in May of 2019.