Spalding, 94Fifty Announce Partnership

BOWLING GREEN, KY–Spalding, a division of Russell Brands, LLC, and the world’s largest basketball equipment supplier and one of the most iconic sports brands in the world, today announced a partnership with InfoMotion Sports Technologies, an industry – leading developer of sophisticated sports motion technologies, including the 94Fifty basketball skill analysis product. The Companies will commercialize an innovative ball designed to measure and quantify basketball skills critical to success in the game.

“This exciting new product pairs best-in-class technology with a best-in-class ball,” said Gary Barfield, executive vice president, Russell Brands, LLC. “Research shows coaches and players have expressed a need for a product like this one to help them monitor and track skill development.  By partnering with 94Fifty, Spalding will be able to assist players in achieving their goals of taking their games to the next level.”

The ball utilizes 94Fifty’s inertial motion sensor arrays and sophisticated, patent-pending, pattern recognition algorithms, which will be embedded to the inside of Spalding basketballs. The technology automatically counts and analyzes a player’s ability to repeat shooting and ball-handling skills at game speed, providing in-depth analysis of the player’s muscle memory.   These proprietary algorithms were developed and proven using thousands of tests with players at all levels to produce the most complete, personalized, assessments of sport-specific skill available.   By analyzing the ball’s motion, this technology allows coaches, trainers and players to objectively measure and analyze skill, create personalized workouts, and store diagnostic results online for players and coaches.

“Our product gives players and coaches the information they need to practice more effectively, with more focus, and with better information so that they can succeed on the court,” said Michael Crowley, Founder and CEO of InfoMotion. “By joining efforts with Spalding, we are taking this product to the next level, and we are excited about working with the world’s leading basketball brand and the entire Spalding team.  Their knowledge of the game and their history in the sport will allow this technology to reach a whole new audience.”

The 94Fifty Total Skill Measurement product is currently marketed and sold directly to coaches, leagues, AAU programs, and basketball clubs. Beginning in 2013, it will be co-branded under the Spalding/94Fifty name and the product line expanded to include sensor basketballs available directly to individual players.

About Spalding

A Division of Russell Brands, LLC, Spalding is the largest basketball equipment supplier in the world, and America’s first baseball company. Spalding is the official basketball of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), the official backboard of the NBA and NCAA, the official baseball of the Little League World Series, the official volleyball of the King of the Beach Volleyball Tour and the official football of Pop Warner. In addition to being a leading producer and marketer of basketballs, footballs, volleyballs and soccer balls, Spalding produces softballs under the Dudley brand. The SPALDING® and DUDLEY® trademarks are owned by Russell Brands, LLC. For more information, visit www.spalding.com.

About 94Fifty

94Fifty (www.94Fifty.com)  is the basketball brand of InfoMotion Sports Technologies Inc. (www.infomotionsports.com) InfoMotion is the world’s pioneering leader for innovating sports products that quantify and digitize muscle-memory based athletic skills and for managing online communities so that  customers can share and compare results.. IST products serve as a platform to produce the world’s first player and team-specific information that enable rapid development of muscle-memory skills. In addition, IST data collection and management tools can be used to enable sophisticated media content, cutting edge video game simulation, and real-time sports analytics and monitoring for enhanced fan experiences. The Company’s sports-specific brands such as 94Fifty serve distinct customer needs for high-participation team sports, and its products provide a foundation for pursuing the company’s vision: to allow athletes to compete with anyone, anywhere on the planet, in real time.