The NBA is one of the most–if not the most–technologically advanced leagues in this day and age. 2015 was a huge year for the league, with individual teams and The Association as a whole utilizing different technologies to improve the player and fan experiences. Here are the NBA tech storylines from 2015 that will continue to impact the league as it enters the new year.
1. Powerful Social Media Presence
The NBA is regarded by many to be the sports league with the best social media presence. Go on your favorite social media site, and you will almost definitely find an engaging NBA account for every team. And they are no rookies on these sites either: this year, the NBA became the first league to make it to 1 billion loops on Vine. This shows they aren’t just focusing on the major platforms like Twitter and Facebook, where they of course have a strong presence as well.
In 2015 league also partnered with Verizon and developed go90, a mobile app that allows fans to stream games on the go as well as cut and paste high quality footage to post to their personal social media accounts.
These are just a couple of the many forward-thinking digital achievements the NBA has accomplished in 2015. And in addition to their major social presence in the U.S., the NBA leverages social media to have a robust international audience as well with strong player and team followings from countries all over the world.
It is undeniable that the NBA has enormous social media momentum right now and they’re showing no signs of slowing down.
2. Arena Improvements
This year, teams have been constantly experimenting with ways to make the arena experience even better. Most obviously, they have implemented things that make the arena more fun and entertaining, like those crazy on-court projections, but many have also added new technology to make the arena experience hugely convenient. The Warriors, as an example, are one of many teams that use Apple’s iBeacon technology to send fans concession deals and possible in-game seat upgrades. Other teams have used third-parties in a similar manner to send live phone information to attendants.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg with NBA teams using tech at arenas. Another huge utilization of tech was virtual reality began being used by teams to not only place fans court side but to provide a virtual ticket purchasing experience where fans could literally see their vantage point.
Going to a live NBA game looks like it’s only going to get better in 2016. It’s a copycat league with teams constantly monitoring what other franchises are doing around the league with using technology to better their franchise.
3. Virtual Reality
Virtual reality has started to enter a wide range of industries, so it’s hardly a surprise that the NBA has taken up this new tech trend. While they are currently pioneering broadcasting games in 3D, perhaps the most innovative way VR has been used so far in the NBA is for player training. The Wizards have been using it for players to see their form, etc. from a third-person view, and it looks like other teams may join in this effort.
But perhaps what was an even more impressive VR application for the NBA was becoming the first sports league to offer fans a virtual reality livestream of a game. This happened when the Golden State Warriors tipped off the season against the New Orleans Pelicans.
We are clearly seeing VR becoming one of the most obvious tech trends around the sports world and the NBA is leading the charge.
4. Health
As a premier worldwide sporting league where athletes are getting bigger, faster, stronger, the NBA obviously needs good care for its athletes. In the last few years there has been a streak of injuries to some of the top players. In 2015 the league took a huge step towards fighting this growing pattern by partnering with GE Healthcare to promote sports health and orthopedic research.
This partnership will center on the joint health of NBA athletes, and better understanding fatigue on the body. Additionally, the GE partnership will concentrate on wellness research and any methods that can help decrease injuries.
Look for the rewards of this partnership going forward as the NBA and GE put their heads together to keep athletes healthy.
In addition to GE and the NBA working together, teams are taking it upon themselves to invest in their own injury prevention technology as well. The Detroit Pistons are a great specific example of this when they recently invested in sports technology company Kitman Labs.
Of course, the Pistons aren’t the only team using new resources to aid in recovery and prevention. A number of other examples are going on around the league.
5. Innovative Partnerships
This category is pretty open-ended, but that’s because it encompasses a few different technological partnerships (see #4 on this list and the aforementioned go90 partnership) that don’t quite have a traditional category. For example, LeBron James and other players have been using his Turner Sports and Warner Bros. backed Uninterrupted video platform to talk directly with fans.
As another example, multiple teams partnered with Facebook this season to live broadcast training camp practices. While these sort of non-categorical partnerships could fall under social media, they push the envelope more and warrant their own category because overall there are a litany of innovative partnerships being entered in to by the league and its players. So whatever comes in 2016, the NBA and its players are progressive with how they approach their brands and the future of the game is in good hands with tech-minded ventures.
Here’s to a strong 2016 for the global sport of basketball.