Interview With Bryan Srabian: VR at AT&T Park, A Giants’ Accelerator, The Fate of Twitter & More

The San Francisco Giants may be one of tech-iest baseball teams in the world. But Director of Digital Media Bryan Srabian remembers recent days when coworkers used printed spreadsheets for complex analytical tasks. According to him, times are changing. “Sports tech is starting to catch up with the rest of the word,” he told me with relief. But how fast and how far?

Through my role with Chat Sports: The Minds Behind the Game series, I’ve met some incredible thought leaders. But predicting the future with the Giants’ renowned “Social Media Consigliore” stands alone. I sat down with Bryan Srabian at The Creamery in Soma and asked him to peer into the crystal ball of sports technology. Here is what he saw.

A Big Announcement from the Giants

NFL teams like the Cowboys and 49ers are using virtual reality to train their players. The Warriors are rumored to be building the technology into their new arena. Our Americanos are barely poured but I’m already pelting him with my first big question: Will VR be the next digital platform conquered by the Giants?

Srabian exclusively reveals to SportTechie that the Giants “are actively looking at something right now, that hopefully we will be able to unveil the second half of this season.”  He couldn’t disclose exactly what the new technology will be, but did share that “it might be a way for fans at the ballpark put on a headset and to see a different perspective of the game they haven’t seen before.”

It sounds like augmented reality is just weeks away from being another AT&T park staple—making one of the most popular ballparks even more must-see.

Sports Accelerator Funds

Srabian’s enthusiasm hit fever pitch as the conversation turns to entrepreneurship. He lauded the creativity of the Los Angeles Dodgers accelerator program, soon to announce its first batch of fledgling companies. “It’s something we talk about internally,” Srabian tells me wistfully. “Imagine if we had our own VC fund.”

He is inundated with requests from founders to pilot their apps. The ultimate beta tester, he longs for more time to explore them. He’s also acutely aware of the pain-points teams experience, and how to solve them. “We have these ideas, but we just don’t have the bandwidth or time or even the big thinking some of the entrepreneurs have.”

For example, the Giants use a company called Tagboard to display photos and videos up on the scoreboard. Srabian believes they could have created the concept themselves and hired engineers to build it. While he foresees most solutions coming from outside the teams themselves, he still thinks the Giants could play an integral role. A Giants tech accelerator would help start-ups develop their idea, work out the kinks, and then sell the product.

“It is a way to make additional revenue,” Srabian says. “But for me it’s not about the money but more about the idea.” If the Giants do launch their own venture capital fund in the coming years, we’ll know whom to thank.

Twitter, We (may) Have a Problem

As director of digital media, Srabian’s team manages ten social channels. When I press him to predict future platform shift, he doesn’t mince words. “The big question is Twitter’s future. Does Google buy it, does Facebook?”

While Twitter is incredibly influential with media, athletes, and high-value fans, he worries about monetization. “If you follow the financial world, they [Twitter] are kind of in turmoil,” He tells me between sips. It’s such a valuable resource, so it could easily sell.

Facebook, on the other hand, is here to stay and poised for major growth. “They are investing internally by building out their sports programming and platforms.” Srabian explains the existing rule-of-thumb in social media: Twitter is for real-time interactions; Facebook is not. But that’s quickly changing, as Facebook’s “trends” technology becomes increasingly relevant.

Even as the Giants explore new platforms like Periscope, Facebook remains the cash cow for social capital. Srabian admits they’re still trying to “figure out what Periscope is used for,” but they’ve already had mild success with live Q&As. Still, “if you record it on your phone and post it to Facebook, it gets more traction.”

Survival of the Fittest: App Edition

Even a techie like Srabian only has a few go-to apps. He names Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, and Pinterest among his daily arsenal. Otherwise, the app world is overcrowded. “Most of them will go away just because they are interesting and cool, but there is no stickiness factor.”

He singles out Snapchat as the new social channel that the Giants have poured resources into. He’s truly excited about the ability of My Story to bring fans behind the game. His enthusiasm for Snapchat contrasts his blunt dismissal of other platforms. “Google+ has done nothing for us,” he admits. “Tumblr … we don’t get much from that.”

It’s a jungle out there, and I couldn’t agree more that mass extinction is near. The apps that streamline simply, and aggregate our lives have a hope of survival. Srabian even hints that a meteor may be on the way for the tech world at large.

“Many believe there is another crash or at least a correction coming soon. A lot of people believe there is just too much tech.” His tone turns a bit ominous toward the end of the conversation. “I think that will come. A lot of the apps that are getting funded because they are the next ‘who knows what’ will go away.”

That’s where our reading of the sports-tech tea leaves came to an end. Despite the doomsday talk, we left off on a note both poignant and positive. After all, we’re two die-hard fans at heart. “Sports is so different because it is people’s emotions. It’s not a product. Apple makes great products, and the social media is based on reviews, and people’s experiences. For us, it’s people’s connection—whether the team is in first or last place. It’s the players, the promotions, that personal connection.”

Bryan Srabian’s mission is to keep that connection alive and well.