Jocks and nerds do not get along. It’s a tale as old as time, a universal truth, one of Plato’s ideal forms. Like oil and water, the two groups simply do not mix. Whether you want to admit it or not, rarely have the captain of the football team and the president of the robotics club ever shared the same lunch table. However, the Golden State Warriors are challenging this timeless trope and it seems to be the unlikely key to their recent success.
The Warriors have established themselves as one of the most successful franchises in sports today, and they’ve done so by daring to do what most have considered impossible for generations: bridging this historic gap between the nerds and the jocks. Their unmatched success on the court has catapulted the team into the national spotlight, while their tech savvy executives have earned the franchise a spot at the top of the food chain by placing a priority emphasis on progressive technology.
First and foremost, they are stacked with not only a team of all-star athletes, but a lineup of superstar tech executives. The roster of tech moguls includes the likes of former Facebook Executive Chamath Palihapitiya, YouTube Co-Founder Chad Hurley, and Zappos Co-Founder Nick Swinmurn and is led by Peter Guber and Joe Lacob, two of Silicon Valley’s finest.
Never miss NBA technology news with the SportTechie newsletter!
It goes without saying that technology and innovation are embedded in the DNA of the franchise.
Naturally, the first order of business for Silicon Valley’s favorite team was to build a brand new state of the art arena. The Warriors’ new home in San Francisco is set to open in 2018, and is considered by many to be a bona fide technology dreamland. The building is outfitted from top to bottom with different high tech features that aim to improve the fan experience, promote the franchise, and bring in big profit.
The arena is equipped with Apple’s iBeacon technology, which sends pings to smartphone users around the arena, offering them deals on concessions, opportunities to upgrade their seats, and notifications on sales at the team store. The Warriors have already experienced major success with the new technology, crediting 15% of in-game seat upgrades to beacon notifications and stating that fans with beacon promotions spend 93% more than others at the team store. Moving forward, they look to improve the technology’s impact on concessions sales.
Virtual reality technology has also been a major focus of the organization over the past decade. The team is interested in improving the viewing experience for both fans at home and in the arena. Executives have invested in technology to broadcast live games for fans at home to experience every game courtside on their virtual reality headset. The team has also experimented with sound in the arena, rigging the court with microphones, playing the sounds of the game through speakers for fans throughout the building, and giving even nosebleed seats a courtside aura.
The Bay Area is without a doubt the NBA’s most tech savvy fan base; therefore, it would not be a real experience if fans couldn’t interact with the game through their own smart devices. So, the Warriors have experimented with the idea of augmented reality, allowing fans to point their smartphone or Google glass at any player on the court and instantly receive their most recent stat line. If that isn’t enough interaction for you, the organization has also looked into floor tiles that generate energy when stepped on, meaning that fans and players may one day literally contribute to powering the building.
The Silicon Valley environment has even seeped its way onto the court. The team uses cutting edge wearable sensors in practice that help track players fatigue and over-exertion. Head coach, Steve Kerr, has attributed his controversial but ultimately beneficial benching of star players mid-season to this technology.
Even the players have gotten in on the action. Warriors’ MVP, Steph Curry, has invested in a startup called CoachUp that has created a network of private coaches for athletes all over the world to utilize. Klay Thompson has teamed up with ShotTracker, the developer of a wearable shot-tracking device that helps shooters work on their form and shot accuracy. Harrison Barnes and Andre Iguodala have also expressed interest in investing in technology VCs. Iguodala actually credits his interest in the field to a relationship he made with a courtside fan that just so happened to be a tech mogul, saying candidly, “Ben Horowitz, he’s the guy. He’s really big into hip-hop, and he’s a brainiac. They sit courtside right next to our bench. So I have some conversations with them during the games. [Horowitz] is really the one who helps me out.”
While history has pitted nerds and jocks against one another for eternity, the success of the Warriors makes us wonder: why? Could the rivalry have been a farce all along, a conspiracy to separate two powerful forces and prevent their harmonious success? Whatever the reason may be, the Golden State Warriors are living proof that—if you’re willing to merge the two lunch tables—greatness lies ahead for you.