National Hockey League Selects SAP to Transform Hockey from the Back Office to the Ice

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Today SAP SE SAP and the National Hockey League (NHL®) announced a multiyear partnership aimed at transforming hockey through technology co-innovation that will provide an unprecedented fan experience while offering the League back office software for best-run businesses. To launch the partnership, SAP and the NHL® are focusing on increasing fan engagement and deepening fan loyalty with the newly released statistics platform on NHL.com powered by the SAP HANA® Enterprise Cloud service.

As the official cloud software partner of the NHL, SAP led the NHL through a series of design thinking workshops to overhaul its statistics solution on NHL.com, leading to the transformation of the existing static and limited stats page into a much more comprehensive, interactive and personalized experience. The new real-time data platform enables the League to bring a vast amount of official NHL statistical information directly to passionate fans' fingertips on the League's official website.

"Hockey is extremely fast-paced with very little stoppage in play, which results in many aspects of the game failing to show up in the box score," said NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins. "In partnering with SAP and using its best-in-class SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud service, we are now able to capture data points like never before and present existing and new statistics in a visually appealing way. The new NHL stats platform goes beyond data to offer insights that will help avid fans go deeper and help casual fans understand the game better. There are also unlimited storytelling opportunities as we provide our fans with a personalized and interactive experience."

The NHL.com/Stats redesign will be released in a series of phases throughout the next few years. The first release, available today, includes a brand new design, introduction of enhanced statistics and powerful new visualization capabilities for fans. The subsequent phases are anticipated to include advanced filtering, a playoff prediction tool, team power index, and integration of historical data dating back to the NHL's inaugural 1917-18 season.

"Once the complete archives of the NHL's statistics are fully integrated, the new tools and functionality of NHL.com/Stats, including advanced filtering and visualizations, will be applied to the entire history of the League," continued Collins. "For the first time ever, fans will be able to compare players and teams spanning all generations."

"Our partnership with the NHL will allow fans to gain deeper insights from the game and tell enticing stories about hockey and its players," said Quentin Clark, chief technology officer, SAP. "With the new NHL stats platform, we are going to deliver real-time insight at the player and team level that has never been seen before in hockey. Together with the NHL, we will continue to look for new opportunities to help innovate and improve the game, as the next generation of hockey begins."

In addition to implementing SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud, the NHL is also aiming to become a simplified, best-run business utilizing various SAP® solutions and technologies, including potentially deploying the SAP Cloud for Customer solution, the SAP® InfiniteInsight® solution, the cloud edition of SAP Lumira® software, SAP® BusinessObjects™ business intelligence solutions, SAP Predictive Analytics software and SAP Data Services software.

The NHL engagement is the latest strategic partnership for SAP, joining other sports and teams in which SAP is helping to improve team and player performance, drive fan engagement and simplify league and venue operations across the globe.

For more information, visit SAP Global Sponsorships and the SAP News Center. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews and @SAPsports.

ABOUT THE NHL
The National Hockey League (NHL®), founded in 1917, consists of 30 Member Clubs, each reflecting the League's international makeup with players from more than 20 countries represented on team rosters, vying for the most cherished and historic trophy in professional sports – the Stanley Cup®. Every year the NHL entertains more than 250 million fans in-arena and through its partners on national television and radio; more than 10 million fans on its social platforms; and more than 300 million fans online at NHL.com. In Canada, the 2014-15 season marks the beginning of a landmark 12-year broadcast and multimedia agreement with Rogers Communications, which includes national rights to NHL games on all platforms in all languages. In the U.S., the NHL is in the fourth season of its 10-year agreement with NBC and NBCSN, the 10^th consecutive season both networks have served as national television partners. The NHL is committed to giving back to the community with programs including: Hockey is for Everyone™, which supports nonprofit youth hockey organizations across North America; Hockey Fights Cancer™, raising money for local and national cancer organizations; NHL Green™, which is committed to pursuing sustainable business practices; and a partnership with the You Can Play Project, which is committed to supporting the LGBT community and fighting homophobia in sports. The NHL received three 2014 Sports Business Awards: "Sports League of the Year," "Sports Executive of the Year" recognizing Commissioner Gary Bettman, and "Sports Event of the Year" for the 2014 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic®. For more information, visit NHL.com.

NHL and the NHL Shield are registered trademarks of the National Hockey League. All Rights Reserved.

About SAP
As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP SAP helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 282,000 customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

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