By Eurohoops team/ info@Eurohoops.net
The Final Four will be the home of two new activities as advanced player tracking and 360-degree personal-view broadcast technologies take the stage for the first time in such an event.
The STATS SportVU optical tracking system will monitor players, referees and the ball itself at each of the Final Four games played at Sinan Erdem Dome. Meanwhile the RealTrack Systems WIMU PRO will collect positional as well as inertial data from the players and referees for each of the EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT Finals games played at both Ahmet Comert Arena and Sinan Erdem Dome.
The STATS SportVU system features six cameras, which in real time track the position of the players, referees and basketballs with 25 points of data per second. WIMU PRO uses a small, wearable WIMU sensor and is able to record data on all movements made by players and referees, including the distances they run, average speed, acceleration, number of leaps, and load. Both systems will deliver advanced metrics for basketball analytics, sports science and media consumption purposes.
Longtime partner FirstVision, pioneers in body-camera technologies, will take its collaboration with Euroleague Basketball one step further by providing the first-ever Virtual Reality, 360-degree body-camera to be used in any major professional sport in the world. The EuroLeague has experimented with body cameras over the last two seasons and participated in the first body-cam experience involving professional players in a Real Madrid vs. Zalgiris Kaunas game in 2015. One referee at every Final Four game will wear the new FirstVision jerseys, which will film every situation from a unique point of view and give viewers the most immersive basketball experience they could imagine. The content will be available for fans on-demand at selected EuroLeague digital platforms.
Off the courts, technology will also shine at the Marmara Forum FanZone in Istanbul from May 19 to 21. There, fans will be able to have their bodies scanned and then receive a link to download a 3D avatar of their likeness transported into different Final Four themed scenarios. They can share the digitally-created images and videos with their friends through their preferred social media channels.
Finally, the league’s digital universe will also see innovation and technology used to help better service fans and offer enhanced experiences through a new Facebook Messenger ChatBot. Developed specifically for the Final Four by Euroleague Basketball partner baresquare, the Final Four ChatBot will be available 24/7 to help fans relive iconic moments in EuroLeague history from the video archive, answer questions about player and team statistics, and share all the latest news from across the league.
These top-notch activities will be added to ongoing endeavors, such as Hawk-Eye Innovations SMART Replay and 3D court-mapping projections among others, to stand as the perfect complement to the superb basketball that the players will perform on the court.