A Kiwi tech company helping the NBA's Phoenix Suns revolutionise the courtside experience is debuting its live drop auction technology in New Zealand after closing a deal with the SKYCITY Breakers.

Kiwi basketball fans will begin to transform the nation's sporting venues by bidding on live drop auctions at the SKYCITY Breakers 2017/18 NBL home games thanks to DROPIT.

DROPIT will bolster the SKYCITY Breakers' promotional roster by bringing live 60-second drop auctions to home games at Auckland's Spark Arena – the first time the innovative technology will be used at live sporting events in New Zealand.

The one-year deal comes on the heels of DROPIT's three-year deal with the NBA's Phoenix Suns.

DROPIT is an adrenaline-pumping, interactive, fan engagement app connecting sponsors and teams with their fans during exhilarating drop auctions in-stadium. The price of an item drops to zero in the space of 60 seconds.

The mass audience activation platform was created and launched in November 2015 by Mount Maunganui co-founders Peter Howell and Brendan Howell.

They have since taken the app to the world's biggest consumer market, the United States, running live auctions of premium sponsored items to entertain sports fans during game breaks, projecting the action simultaneously on massive scoreboards and users' phones.

'Being a Kiwi-owned and operated start-up, we are rapt to bring the app back home,” says DROPIT CEO Peter Howell.

'Making it in the States proves that this technology is something the sporting landscape had previously been missing.

'Since launching in the NBA we have had nothing but overwhelmingly positive feedback from both the Phoenix Suns and NBA fans on the technology and believe this will translate across to the SKYCITY Breakers and the Hungry Jack's NBL.”

At the Phoenix Suns' matches DROPIT has auctioned off premium items including a VIP courtside experience, VIP locker room tours, a Honda dirt bike and the latest iPhone X.

'It's pretty special to be able to work closely with the DROPIT team to bring what we see as an exciting and innovative addition back home and to SKYCITY Breakers home games,” says SKYCITY Breakers general manager Dillon Boucher.

'We have taken a keen interest in DROPIT changing the live sporting experience at the Phoenix Suns' NBA matches and we are confident the same will happen here at Spark Arena. It will lift the courtside experience to another level and we can't wait to see it in action!”

The DROPIT live drop auctions will be broadcast simultaneously on in-stadium big screens and fans' mobile phones during breaks in the game. Fans will unite in a competitive ‘game of chicken' for the chance to win exclusive items and experiences.

The upcoming NBL games will see DROPIT working with both the SKYCITY Breakers and their sponsors to drop the price of premium items.

'These are money-can't-buy experiences and are sure to create an exhilarating, adrenaline-pumping experience for the crowd and of course the winner,” says Peter.

He says sporting arenas are becoming advanced smartphone environments and it is necessary to ensure app-driven services keep fans engaged.

'Whether it is quarter-time or half-time in basketball, the moment the live action stops people switch off from the atmosphere, they go and grab a hot dog or chips and look at their phones.

'The DROPIT app is a world-first application providing a game-changing solution to fan disengagement by using the very device distracting audiences to bring them back to the live experience.

'Fan engagement continues after the game with exclusive, targeted brand offers delivered to mobile phones post-auction, driving fans from seats to stores, increasing revenue and return on sponsorship for major consumer brands.”

DROPIT will run its first live 60-second drop auction at the SKYCITY Breakers home game against the Cairns Taipans at Auckland's Spark Arena on Sunday January 7.