SACRAMENTO, Calif. Today, the Sacramento Kings announced they have teamed up with Silicon Valley software company CrowdOptic to broadcast Google Glass views live during home games on the jumbotron inside Sleep Train Arena, making the team the first in professional sports to employ the technology.
The first Google Glass broadcast will be shown during the Kings’ upcoming home game against the Indiana Pacers on January 24. The Kings tested the technology during a home game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on January 12, and released a video preview through social media.
The technology will allow fans at the game, and viewing at home, to witness the courtside experience through the eyes of Slamson, Kings dancers, sideline reporters and others closest to the action live as they stream their first-person views through Google Glass. The Glass broadcasts are the latest new technology feature the Kings are testing to improve the in-arena experience for fans.
The experience will be powered by CrowdOptic, a software platform which analyzes the real-time Google Glass feeds and curates them by their subject matter and quality, exporting only the highest quality live footage to the arena scoreboard.
Since CrowdOptic analyzes where mobile and wearable devices are aimed from moment to moment, it is also capable of powering additional technologically-enhanced services in the future for the Kings, ranging from enhancements to its mobile app for stadium services and concessions, to broadcasting controlled by fans through their mobile devices.
Kings President Chris Granger describes a vision of the near future in which a partnership with CrowdOptic will be leveraged to detect where fans smart devices, including Google Glass units worn by fans as well as phones, are aiming inside the arena. “Fans could simply aim their smart devices to inherit someone else’s Google Glass view, or evaluate concessions lines. It is just a matter of time before Google Glass is an integral part of the fan experience of watching live sports. We are very excited about the many future possibilities working with CrowdOptic.”
To learn more about CrowdOptic, visit www.crowdoptic.com