The Sacramento Kings, whose new uniform design last season received rave reviews, are launching this year’s update with a twist — and a zoom and a spin and an in-home photo opp.
Already ranked as SportTechie’s most tech-savvy franchise in sports, the Kings are launching their new Nike threads with an augmented reality feature in their fan app. Not only will users receive a 360-degree pan of the uniform top, but they also bring the jersey — and Kings forward Garrett Temple — into their home.
The augmented reality feature — the same technology powering Pokemon Go and Snapchat’s dancing hot dog — presents an image of Temple holding a basketball that fans can stand next to for a picture. Similarly, users can customize and frame a Kings jersey with their name on it as if it were hanging on the wall of their den, then share it in messages with friends or in posts on social media. While sports teams historically have unveiled uniforms with fashion shows and press conference, this method offers immediate distribution.
“A kid in south Sacramento can take a photo next to one of his favorite players, Garrett Temple, and the kid in south Asia can do the same thing,” Kings chief technology officer Ryan Montoya told SportTechie. “It’s pretty amazing where we’ve come from with technology and how we’re really able to share that fan experience throughout the world.”
While adidas previously supplied all NBA uniforms, the 2017-18 season begins the association’s eight-year partnership with Nike. Through the Kings’ app, fans can zoom in and around the jersey to get a sense of its design and texture, with four highlighted new features. Those changes include the use of a recycled poly-fabric (20 bottles are used in each uniform); a shoulder seam shaped for the scapula, to improve mobility; a seamless design to reduce distractions; and a moisture-repellent fabric and mesh to prevent moisture cling and maximize airflow.
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Montoya credits owner Vivek Ranadivé, the founder of TIBCO and Teknekron Software Systems (which digitized Wall Street), as having “brought the spirit of innovation to the team.” Sacramento has been on the tech frontier with augmented and virtual reality, using an AR app on iPads four years ago when the Golden 1 Center was under construction. Montoya added that the motivation behind new features such as this is to ask: “How can we use innovation to improve the fan experience or showcase what we’re doing? It’s become part of the DNA for the entire organization.”
The “crown jewel” of these advances is the Golden 1 Center, he said, which opened last season. The building is powered entirely by solar energy and has abundant tech integrations.
“One of our goals for tech is to have more code than concrete in our new arena,” Montoya said.