Panini is an Italian company headquartered in Modena, Italy, named after the Panini brothers who founded it in 1961.[1] The company produces books, comics, magazines, stickers, trading cards and other items through its collectibles and publishing subsidiaries.[2][3] Panini distributes its own products, and products of third party providers.[4] Panini maintains a Licensing Division to buy and resell licences and provide agency for individuals and newspapers seeking to purchase rights and comic licences.[5] Through Panini Digital the company uses voice-activated software to capture football statistics, which is then sold to agents, teams, media outlets and video game manufactures.[6]
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada. It is an active member of USA Basketball (USAB), which is recognized by the International Basketball Federation as the National Governing Body (NGB) for basketball in the United States. The NBA is one of the four major North American professional sports leagues.