Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors bats a layup away from Lou Williams of the LA Clippers during Game Six of Round One of the 2019 NBA Playoffs at Staples Center. (Photo: Harry How/Getty Images)
One season into using their new broadcast platform CourtVision, the Los Angeles Clippers are already imagining how they might soon evolve the platform to feed odds and opportunities to sports bettors.
Launched ahead of the 2018-19 NBA season, CourtVision is the brainchild of Clippers owner Steve Ballmer. The former Microsoft chief executive is also an investor in Second Spectrum, which provides video tracking technology installed in every NBA arena to collect data about ball and player locations.
Powered by Second Spectrum and Amazon Web Services, CourtVision was offered to Clippers fans as a new streaming experience that enabled them to watch live game streams from different angles, or with different digital overlays. Fans, for example, could choose Coach Mode, which diagramed plays as they happened on the screen, or Player Mode, in which real-time shooting percentages hovered over every player. A third option, Mascot Mode, incorporated fun animations, graphics, and special effects.
CourtVision users were able to switch between different camera views, watching courtside from the players’ bench or from above the nearby scoreboard. They could choose different types of sound playback, from the traditional broadcast to the squeaks of players’ shoes scuffing the floor.
And soon, data overlays might be added that incorporate real-time betting data, said Scott Sonnenberg, the Clippers’ chief global partnerships officer, who presented Friday morning at the San Francisco 49ers and SportTechie Horizon Summit at Levi’s Stadium.
Scott Sonnenberg, the chief global partnerships officer of the Los Angeles Clippers, presents at Horizon Summit. (Courtesy of the San Francisco 49ers)
“Imagine watching the game, five seconds to go in the game, and a prop bet pops up. It says 3:1 odds Lou Williams takes the last shot, 5:1 odds says he makes it, 7:1 odds says somebody else takes it,” he said. “And just by clicking a button, you can place a bet right there in real time.”
In order for this to work on a sports betting level, though, the lag between the broadcast and CourtVision stream would need to improve. There’s currently about a minute-and-a-half delay, though Sonnenberg said AWS is helping to reduce that.
The Clippers and Second Spectrum also have plans to expand CourtVision to “multiple other” sports, leagues. and teams. Sonnenberg said they’re already in talks with a team in soccer.
“There are a lot of opportunities to monetize something like this,” he said. “You’re going to see this continue to grow because I think it’s really going to help revolutionize the way we watch sports going forward.”
This content is part of our coverage of the San Francisco 49ers and SportTechie Horizon Summit. SportTechie organizes regular events that bring together innovators, investors, and key decision makers from across the world of sports technology. Find out more about future events here.
