I had one of the more memorable sports moments of my life last night, rooting for my favorite team in the crowd at an NBA game — without leaving my apartment. My big takeaway: Microsoft and the NBA are on to something with their new tech-fueled virtual fan experience. I gave it a spin during Thursday’s Blazers vs. Lakers playoff game, watching the action in Microsoft Teams alongside other fans doing the same, all of us visible in the virtual stands on the live national broadcast. It was pretty epic — well, not that epic, since the Lakers crushed my… Read More
Steve Ballmer isn’t able to jump out of a courtside seat and cheer on his Los Angeles Clippers in his usual enthusiastic fashion since the NBA returned to action last week. But the former Microsoft CEO and current team owner is still pretty excited about what’s he’s seen when it comes to games during the coronavirus pandemic. “I think it is incredibly well done,” Ballmer told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday about the league’s safety measures to keep team personnel healthy as well as innovations being used to engage fans who can’t be there in person. Ballmer said he was… Read More
The NBA returned to action on Thursday and brought along virtual fans in an experience powered by Microsoft Teams. Some fans who missed that the tech-enabled future had arrived early thanks to coronavirus were left wondering how to get into the digital seats. The NBA is inviting around 320 fans per game to fill the virtual stands — which are 17-foot-tall video boards that ring the court. It’s up to each team to decide how to select those fans for games played in NBA’s “bubble” in Orlando, Fla. According to The Wall Street Journal, designated home teams get to choose… Read More
Courtside seats at a Lakers game used to be such a prestigious thing. But 2020 is a different NBA fan experience thanks to the pandemic, and it doesn’t look like Jack Nicholson made it into a test of video technology at a recent practice. As part of its partnership with Microsoft, the NBA is ringing the court with 17-foot video boards to allow a select number of fans to experience upcoming games via Microsoft Teams “Together” mode. A clip of the video collaboration software being put to the test showed up on Twitter over the weekend as Lakers players participated… Read More
The NBA is getting help from Microsoft to improve the fan experience as the league embarks on an unprecedented shortened season amid the pandemic. The two organizations, which announced a multiyear cloud partnership in April, will debut virtual viewing technology powered by Microsoft’s Teams collaboration software when the season begins July 30 near Orlando, Fla. The NBA is installing 17-foot video boards surrounding the courts where games will be held with no fans due to COVID-19. More than 300 fans for each game will appear on the boards and interact with each other using the new Microsoft Teams “Together” mode,… Read More
