Ask any basketball fan, and they’ll tell you the game isn’t just a sport.
Basketball is a passion, a sense of belonging to a huge community with the same shared love. It’s about coming together in a fast-paced and electric environment, to cheer on the players and teams that have nurtured your appreciation of the game. Players and teams use the collective support and energy of their fans to transform their skills and deliver incredible moments.
Unfortunately, this year, the 2019-2020 basketball season didn’t restart with quite the same bang as usual. The COVID-19 pandemic meant that Orlando’s new season couldn’t pull together fans as it usually does. That’s why the NBA decided to take a new approach to the way that we collectively experience sporting events.
Understanding that today’s trying times require innovative solutions, the NBA turned to Microsoft and the Teams Together mode to connect players and fans in a virtual environment.
A New Era for Basketball Fans
The relationship between the NBA and Microsoft isn’t entirely new. The NBA has always had it’s foot in the door of the latest technology innovations. In April 2020, Microsoft and the NBA announced a multi-year collaboration. The two groups are working together to create fantastic next-generation experiences for basketball fans.
This combined commitment to sports fans starts with a new engagement platform for fans to enjoy, complete with personalized, on-demand and live broadcasts. The platform also includes vast historical video archives to explore, and unique analysis and insights from coaches, fans, and broadcasters alike.
In July 2020, Microsoft took its relationship with the NBA to the next level, announcing a new experience powered by Together mode on Microsoft Teams. This new experience accesses AI technology to connect people in a shared background. This background might be a coffee shop, a conference room – or in this case, a basketball arena.
The experience uses the principles of social perception and cognition to make it feel like you’re in the same room as countless other athletic fans. It’s not just about using a virtual background – Together mode really immerses people in a new environment.
A New Way to Share Experiences
With Together mode from Microsoft Teams, users can maintain eye contact with fellow participants, or check out the emotions of other people as they see what’s happening in front of them. The NBA isn’t the only group using Together mode. Companies and educators around the world have already discovered what this unique experience is all about.
How it looks[/caption]
