Ty Lawson may very well be an NCAA Champion and one of the more underrated point guards in the NBA, but basketball has always been a team game. The 30 franchises that make up the league have generated a revenue pie in excess of $5 billion. The digital age has enabled this game to reach its worldwide audience anywhere, anytime. Teams can build up their own local fan base through the sundry of platforms available.
Much like our #NFLTechSeries, this time SportTechie delves into the digital strategies–from web, social media, mobile apps, and any other technological connection–of each team and analyzes them, including insights from some of the digital executives involved. Today, the #NBADigitalSeries 2013-14 continues with the Denver Nuggets. Stay tuned to SportTechie this month for ongoing coverage of the #NBADigitalSeries.
The Denver Nuggets have joined the theme of bigger is better and introduced a new enormous video board that hangs above the court this year. They wanted to change everything about what it is like to come to a game at the Pepsi Center. Renovating the scoreboard took just under $15 million to make and left some revenue for future improvements in the Pepsi center, such as courtside LED advertising.
The scoreboard broadcasts in a true 16:9 aspect ratio at 1080p HD and boasts a surface area of more than 4,400 square feet, making it the largest in the NBA or NHL, at the moment. The length spans 3-point line to 3-point line for basketball and blue line to blue line for hockey. The scoreboard also contains four large screens — two facing the seats along the sidelines and two facing the seats behind the baseline. The sideline screens are about 27 feet high and 48 feet wide; the other two sides are approximately 21 feet high and 25 feet wide. The video screens measure 48’x27′, in contrast to other screens in the NBA, such as the one at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, that measures 50’x21′, creating an extra-wide visual.
There was also a new loudspeaker system from LVW Electronics installed, with 60 full-range loudspeakers and 24 subwoofers.With the audio upgrade, the Pepsi Center now boasts a 412,800-W sound-system.
“This is all about the fan experience,” said Tim Romani, president and CEO of ICON Venue Group, which managed the project. “When you’re talking about fan experience, it’s not necessarily what you saw or what you heard — it’s what you felt emotionally. These are the kinds of pieces that bring people back to the building.”
Below is a time-lapse video of what it took to make this huge videoboard.
So far, the fans are responding well to the new video board. “The fan reaction has been tremendous thus far,” says Billi Capra, VP of broadcast services, Kroenke Sports Enterprises. “I’m blown away by the difference in crowd response. Fans are just so much more engaged.” After all, they should get used to big screens now because this upgrade comes after the Denver Broncos also received an upgraded video and sound system.
The Nuggets want to make sure the fans can stay connected with the players. They have created a social round up on their website for every week that showcases what the players are doing via social media. That way the players get more followers and the fans get more updates on their favorite athletes that they might have missed. They have also created a Fan Engagement network on the site called the Goldmine, which give fans the opportunity to enter a contest for exclusive prizes.
Recently, the Nuggets began some new engagement by selling tickets via Facebook. This could be the beginning of a trend for many teams.
The Nuggets are also among the four teams (including the Rockets, Jazz, and Cavaliers) in the NBA to use Flash Seats digital ticketing system from Veritix. This electronic ticketing manage system is a simple and secure way for fans to manage their tickets online. It also allows fans to transfer seats to anyone via email and sell tickets to games that they can’t attend. Best of all, Flash Seats is eco-friendly and quick. Fans don’t need paper tickets. Any form of electronic I.D. is scanned at the gate to to admit Nuggets’ faithful.