NBA commissioner Adam Silver outlined some possible tech enhancements to the fan experience, including the use of augmented and virtual reality.
While appearing on CBS Sports Network’s “We Need to Talk” with panelists Tracy Wolfson, Swin Cash, Lisa Leslie, and Dana Jacobson on Tuesday, Silver discussed one way AR could be implemented in the arena to offer fans real-time statistics.
“You may be holding up your iPhone and you may be getting additional information live,” he said. “You hold it up and you see the players and be getting their stats and may see, OK, Steph Curry at that spot on the floor shoots 42 percent as opposed to 37 percent so he’s better off shooting there. Or LeBron [James] is deciding who on his team he should pass to, and you can instantly see how they do from the corner 3 as opposed to the post or whatever else.”
Silver revealed that the league had approached several leading technology companies and offered them a challenge to replicate the courtside experience. One option is to accomplish this through VR.
“What we set out to do,” Silver said, “is we said, ‘all right, first of all, only about one percent of our fans globally ever get to go to a game in person. And then take the tiny percent, the Jack Nicholsons of the world, who actually sit in those seats, courtside. And then the challenge became, how can we replicate that experience?’”
SportTechie Takeaway
MLB Advanced Media previewed similar AR technology at the end of the 2017 season to provide in-venue fans the chance to see live baseball stats, and the possibility Silver teases about real-time shooting percentages would enthrall serious fans closely tracking game play. Such immersive VR tech is also not unprecedented, but any unique features or innovations that can help capture and convey the novel courtside experience are worth exploring.