In pro sports, there has been a recent explosion in data use. Teams and players are taking advantage of statistical analysis to improve their performance and make smarter decisions. It’s a change fans have embraced, and these days it’s almost a given that having a favorite player or team means having an intimate understand of their stats.

In pro basketball, SAP is the power behind the NBA’s stats page. It’s a key resource for fans, but most of them are unaware of the brand’s role. Our goal was to raise awareness of SAP’s NBA partnership while driving more people to NBA.com/stats by showing the value of data in modern basketball.

As the power behind the NBA’s stat page, SAP is at the center of the data craze. So we decided to show how stats have changed the game in sports by creating a full-length, hour long reality television show–one that focused on what goes on behind the scenes.

In GM School, four data-savvy fans competed in a series of challenges for the chance to land a job in the NBA offices. The challenges replicated the tasks of a basketball general manager, testing the fans’ data skills and love of the game. A panel of three well-known judges– former Cleveland Cavaliers GM David Griffin, Hall of Fame player Kevin McHale, and SVP of Basketball Strategy and Analytics Evan Wasch–rated their performances.

The NBA has one of the youngest, most media-savvy fan bases in professional sports. It was important to make them aware of SAP’s league partnership and purpose in a way that related to how they used stats in their daily lives.

Now that data has become such a common and accessible part of the game, every fan thinks they know how to run a basketball team. While they may be underestimating the pressure and difficulty of working in pro sports, their assumption isn’t as crazy as it sounds. With the right data skills and some luck, anyone has a chance of becoming the next big general manager.

With GM School, we brought attention to this new, more level playing field. It was a show that had clear stakes any fan would care about, featured personalities they knew, but in the end centered on the power of SAP-provided data.

After being greenlit in the winter of 2018, GM School was cast, staffed, shot and edited in approximately three months. After trailers and promos appeared online in mid February, the show itself debuted on NBA TV on Feb 20 at 8pm. It was released on the NBA’s Youtube channel soon after.

Altogether, the campaign racked up more than 11.4 million views, 190 million impressions and 307,000 engagements. And the reaction among fans was universally positive–hundreds of people took to social media to ask how they can become a contestant on season two.