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On March 11, 2020, the NBA season came to a halt due to an outbreak of COVID-19 in the league. This initially meant the season would be discontinued and there would be no live basketball for a long time. However, the NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver, had different plans and wanted to finish the season. Many players had concerns regarding the guidelines that would be established, as well as the arena experience for the fans and players alike.
In an interview with ESPN, NBA player Lebron James was heavily concerned about the idea of lacking a physical crowd, stating “Think about all the great memories that we had. And then being able to play in front of my friends and family again. That would have been so cool... I'm kind of bummed out about that.” In early July, with the thoughts of the players and fans in mind, the idea of a “bubble” was manifested in Orlando, mainly in the Walt Disney Resort. This idea of a “bubble” would allow players and staff to live in three different controlled environments. For the most part, none of the players or staff could leave, and new people weren’t allowed to come into the resort. Also, only a small number of reporters from major organizations like ESPN, New York Times, and Yahoo were allowed to come into the bubble and were required to live there. For the other reporters worldwide, they were only allowed to conduct interviews through video conferences. This could help to explain the analogy behind their use of the term “bubble”, as the NBA does not want anyone to pop their bubble of security from the pandemic.
To create the best and safest arena experience for the players and fans, the NBA looked towards the use of technology. Bringing fans into the arena would defeat the whole purpose of their “bubble”, so LED screens were utilized to bring fans into the atmosphere. On 17 foot tall LED screens, live fans would be seen watching the game, as if they were there in the arena. Fans could simply register to become a virtual fan, and teams could be able to reach out to season pass holders to compensate for the disruption of the season. Players could bring their families and friends on the screen to help them better their experience on the court. NBA player Delon Wright says that he enjoys seeing the fans and thinks that “It is cool to see fans’ faces on the screens, and it’s better than being in an empty gym by ourselves.”
For more of a regular arena atmosphere, audio systems were also optimized to bring the sounds of the fans and their home arena to life. In an interview with Assistant Vice President of NBA Entertainment, Carlton Myers, he wanted to emphasize the audio experience in the arena and states, “The goal was to replicate what the players would hear if there were 18,000 people around them in an arena.” In order to do that, hundreds of audio files and noises were collected to create vibrant crowd noise and vivid sound effects in the arena. This mixture of sounds, paired along with the virtual fans, would help to create a real and immersive experience for the players.
Since the area outside of the basketball court was mainly empty, the NBA gained the capability to experiment with different camera angles to create a better viewing experience for the fans. On the sidelines of the court, where fans would usually sit, cameras were placed to create interesting perspectives and views. The main use of these cameras were to allow viewers to see more aspects of the game and make viewers feel like they were in the crowd. For example, one of the cameras would allow viewers to watch on a leveled view, as if they were standing there on the court. This camera would also have the ability to slide from different ends of the court, which was able to provide dynamic angles for the viewers at home.
With more than five hundred players and staff to monitor, since the start of the NBA Bubble, the NBA reports that there have not been any new COVID-19 cases. Technology was able to provide quality sports entertainment while keeping the NBA players and fanbase safe from the ongoing pandemic. This would go on to inspire other big sport leagues, such as the NFL and MLB, as they would also use some of the innovations of the NBA in their own way to safely provide sports entertainment.