The NBA, more so than most major professional leagues, is evolving quickly from a tech-perspective. Commissioner Adam Silver hasn’t been shy about focusing on things like virtual and augmented reality. He talked during All-Star weekend about ways to bring the in-game experience to fans who can’t attend games.
It seems Boston Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck is of a similar mind. Speaking at the 2018 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, Grousbeck talked AR and applications of it for his team.
“We are building it into our Celtics’ app,” said Grousbeck during a panel. “We are going to have it at our games to enhance, for the second-screen viewing, even when you’re in the seats, with stats and data. We’re working on that and we’re not rolling it out yet.”
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For examples of AR’s use in the NBA landscape, we can look at NBA AR — a mobile game built using ARKit technology. Though what Grousbeck was discussing is more than just a mobile game. It sounded like it’d be a more creative way to share data relating to the game.
“I’m a believer in AR, I think it’s going to add a lot,” Grousbeck said. “But I still love sort of the old-school being in the seat, or sort of being right there and just soaking it all in. But augmenting that in an appropriate way can add something to it. I’m sure it will be a bigger part of our future.”