NBA uses Google Glass to turn courtside celebrities into broadcasters

The NBA’s love affair with Google Glass is continuing through the playoffs, with the Indiana Pacers adding a new feature to its in-stadium Glass live streaming: celebrities. The Eastern Conference team that’s had one of the best records in the league this year already uses Glass to beam live pictures from around the court to its scoreboard, but now it’s doing it with famous attendees donning the headset. The first of these new Glass-casters is NFL defensive end Robert Mathis, a longtime member of the Indianapolis Colts and last season’s leader in sacks.

The Pacers want to continue expanding the amount and variety of Glass content they offer to fans inside the arena, and are making some technical improvements along with adding the fresh courtside perspective. Texts can now be sent to the Glass wearer to give them directions and alerts for when they’re about to go live. The Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings have also embraced Google’s wearable, and throughout the league it seems to be the players themselves that are driving its rapid adoption. For the Pacers, it was center Roy Hibbert that first embraced Glass and served as its primary evangelist.

If there’s any downside to this news, it might be for Samsung’s courtside technology deal with the NBA. The Korean company is the official supplier of tablets, smartphones, and TVs for the NBA, however it now seems like the most prominent piece of courtside technology this year will actually be Google’s Glass.