The Sacramento Kings paired up with Google Glass to give fans a real close-up look at what it's like on the court. If you've ever wondered what it looks like from LeBron's point of view when he makes a killer slam dunk, you need look no further than the amazing footage the Kings shot recently.
The Kings got 10 pairs of Glass from Google and are giving them to the players, mascot, announcers and cheerleaders, so that they can record and share awesome moments with fans in the audience. The Kings paired up with San Francisco based CrowdOptic to bring what the players are seeing through Glass to the entire audience. CrowdOptic sends footage from all the different Glass wearers down on the court to Glass wearers in the audience, as well as those with TVs nearby and those who are watching on the JumboTron.
The idea is to make the audience's viewing experience more personal and close, whether they're sitting in the nose bleed seats or inches from the court. CrowdOptic's CEO Jon Fisher explains that he hopes to see more Glass on the court soon, so that there will be even more footage to choose from. CrowdOptic's algorithms will then be able to analyze all the footage and pick out the best moments to share with fans. Then, the footage can be categorized by player, action, etc., giving fans more choice on which moments they'd like to watch up close and personal.
Vice president of business development, Jim Kovach, says that Glass doesn't just give fans a new perspective on the game, but also on the players themselves.
"They have their quirks, and you can't pick that up from the stands," Kovach said. "It's just interesting to see."
For example, players often goof around on the court during workouts, crack jokes and play pranks on each other, but the audience never gets to see that part of the game. Kovach says that although Glass is great for "tricks and dunks, and flashy things....[You can] see different things, like the way people talk," too.
The Kings have tested Glass out on audiences a few times already, putting footage on the JumboTrons and the audience loves it. The players, however, love it even more. One of the Kings' players, Jason Thompson, says he really enjoys wearing Glass on the court and comes across as a huge technology buff.
"This is a new century," Thompson said. "It's 2014, and this is definitely the future, not just of basketball, but of the world."
The players joke around on the court while wearing Glass, too, talking to it, joking with it and interacting as if Glass and Google were people there on the court with them. Clearly, this is a very fun experiment for the Kings and it's no surprise that this Sacramento team is the first in the NBA to give Glass a chance.
The team owners are a who's who of huge names in the tech industry, including Vivek Ranadive, the founder of Tibco Software; the Jacobs brothers, whose dad created Qualcomm; former Apple VP and current Leap Motion President Andy Miller; as well as Facebook's chief privacy officer Chris Kelly.
