Golden State Warriors Join Forces With Google for Cloud Tech
*By Michael Teich*
The star-studded Golden State Warriors is adding another flashy name to its team: Google.
The NBA defending champions and the Chase Center just formed a new partnership with Google Cloud to create a high-tech sports and entertainment area. Google Cloud will be named the official public cloud provider of the Warriors, as well as the founding partner of the Chase Center in San Francisco, where the team is expected to play home games at the start of the 2019-2020 season.
"We're excited to have them be a partner of the Warriors and Chase Center as we look to enhance fan experience and really enhance all areas of our business, both on the court and off," the Warriors' Chief Revenue Officer Brandon Schneider told Cheddar in an interview on Monday.
The Warriors plan to use the cloud technology to power a new app the team is in the process of developing. Schneider said the app is intended to be used not only at games, but also for other in-house events ー and to interact with neighboring restaurants to make reservations, for example.
"We really view that as kind of the remote control for Chase Center. That's something fans will use whether they're going to a Warriors game, a concert. Now Warriors games will only be about 25 percent of the events that occur at Chase Center as we transition from a basketball team to a sports and entertainment company," Schneider said.
Schneider said the Warriors' basketball analytics group will aso use Google's machine learning and analytics to give coaches and players insight into the team's performance and hopefully gain a competitive advantage.
The Warriors, which have won three NBA championships in the past four years, opted to for Google ($GOOGL) Cloud over Seattle-based Amazon ($AMZN) Web Services, which dominates the cloud business with a 32 percent market share, compared to Google's 9 percent share, according to research firm [Canalys](https://www.canalys.com/newsroom/cloud-market-share-q4-2018-and-full-year-2018). Schneider said part of that decision was driven by the proximity of Google's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters.
"We want to be with best in breed. A lot of this comes down to relationships as well. Google being based here in our backyard we really like. And we just think there's a really diverse skill set that people at Google have, and not just Google Cloud, but Google overall."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/golden-state-warriors-partner-with-google-cloud-snub-amazon).
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