It is undeniable that the Sacramento Kings have a soft spot for the latest technology and working with tech startups. In April, the NBA franchise hosted a startup competition for Sacramento-area businesses, boasting a grand prize of $10,000. This acted as a precursor to their opening of the Golden 1 Center, which the Kings hope will be one of the most technologically advanced arenas in the world.
As they look to become the most tech savvy team in the NBA, the Kings have added one more item to their résumé—a chatbot.
Facebook announced the creation of their “chatbots” for the Messenger platform about a month ago. These are AI bots that can communicate with consumers in natural language, in order for businesses to connect with the population in an interactive and easy way.
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So far, only one group in the world of sports has created a chatbot—that being Canadian sports media outlet theScore. The Kings, though, are on track to becoming the first major sports franchise to have a Facebook chatbot.
They are working with startup JiffyBots to create a chatbot that will focus primarily on fan engagement. The chatbot will interact with fans, giving them statistics on the team and real-time digital Kings content. Eventually, when the Golden 1 Center opens, the chatbot will be able to provide information about the new arena and even event schedules.
Kings CTO Ryan Montoya said that he hopes the chatbot will be able to do even more in the near future, such as helping fans upgrade seats or buy tickets. The applications of this chatbot are intriguing, and the Kings are smart to get a head start on this project, as the world of chatbots continues to show face for all of its capabilities.
By getting a head start, they should be able to modify their chatbot as new concepts arrive, while already having a significant following from their fans.