When the NBA season resumes Thursday in a Florida quarantine bubble, fans will be able to appear virtually on giant videoboards around the ...
When the NBA season resumes Thursday in a Florida quarantine bubble, fans will be able to appear virtually on giant videoboards around the court as part of digital technology enhancements.
Heads and chests of more than 300 fans per game will appear on boards at the sides and ends of courts on 17-foot videoboards, five rows of people on each bringing a look of spectators when none will be courtside.
Similar technology has been deployed by European soccer clubs, notably Manchester City, since play resumed.
The coronavirus pandemic shut down the 2019-20 NBA season on March 11 when Utah’s Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19.
Months of planning led to an isolation bubble restart plan at Walt Disney World in Orlando with 22 teams finishing the campaign and the NBA playoffs set to begin in August.
The first experience of an NBA strategic alliance with Microsoft will be the tech firm’s “Together Mode,” part of broadcast enhancements that include previously unseen camera angles, some from camera’s operated robotically, and enhanced audio of more player shouts and shoe squeaks.
Under the NBA’s virtual video experience, fans will be removed from their individual backgrounds and brought together in a shared visual space seen in the venue and on game broadcasts. Fans can remain...
