Inside the Golden Warriors Fan Virtual Experience

Like all NBA teams, the Golden State Warriors are coming to terms with a separate NBA season, playing in empty spaces of fans. “It’s a pity if you don’t want my honest opinion, not to have a fan,” Draymond Green, who was naturally, told reporters yesterday. Team player Andrew Wiggins was a bit more diplomatic, but recently delivered the same message. “Of course, it’s different. You won’t hear the cheers or, you know, the boos. Many times, fans move the game and that would help teams go. ”

Not the Golden State Warriors though as a kind of group to just sit back and embrace the adventure. Listen to this season ‘s Warriors game and it’s hard to miss the big LED board full of fancy fans on the side, or as Green puts it more colorfully that “that big ass screen just then behind the bench ”. The Warriors refer to it as the Dub Hub, and as of right now it is the only meaningful in-game fan experience of its kind in the NBA right now.

Why bring in fancy followers?

Jen Millet, Senior Vice President of Warriors Marketing, told me on a recent call that the Warriors were looking for ways for “fans to feel more connected to the team and be part of the team. experience, and not to lose that, during this time. “If the Dub Hub seems to be passing on the experience of virtual NBA fans in the bubble playoff at Disney World, that’s not an accident. “I think one of the great things about the league, and the teams in the league, is that there is a lot of collaboration and sharing of best practice,” said Jen Millet.

Like all teams they are also looking for ways to create a home court advantage, although this is a work in progress if you listen to Green, who says he is not. has yet to make a significant impression on fans during games. But that’s more of a reflection on how normal locked-up players are. “There are times when you play in the game [with fans] and you don’t know there are fans in the field. And so, not being aware of the screen, ”he said. With the situation, Green really appreciates the efforts the Warriors are putting in, saying “I think everyone has done a great job trying to symbolize and feel as real as they can. ”

Why the Warriors, not others?

Not being in the bubble of the NBA gave the Warriors more time to look at options that other teams did not have. They were then able to put together a range of scenarios based on various plans they had worked to get fans back in the Chase Center in person.

The result is that the Warriors have been inspired by the NBA bubble and put their own usual spin on it. “Peter Guber, one of our greatest owners, is just a hero of what our playing experience is like” explained Millet. “For the last 75 years of the league, not much of that was broadcast around its coverage but directed around the inside experience… we had no fans so we understood that there is a need to deliver a great experience even in this strange new situation in which we find ourselves. ”

The Warriors were already working with The Famous Group on virtual experience for the NBA draft. With the success of the Orlando bubble, Millet explains that the partnership quickly moved on to discussions on “how we can take the fancy to the next level and beyond what we saw in the bubble” .

There are several tricks in the Dub Hub

So the Dub Hub was born. Once in, fans will be able to choose from four different camera angles including the usual coverage, court-side view, what’s featured on the Chase Center’s large scoreboard, and the view from being under the basket. Alternatively you can watch them all at once in a split screen. Fans can also interact with each other in their virtual rooms, an effort to personally reproduce some of the communism in terms of attending a game, and there is a moderator to help attendees get most of the experience.

The most exciting new element is the player tunnel where fans can interact directly with players as they prepare to come to court. “While we understood the value of fans and that kind of reach behind the scenes that they wouldn’t get even in the field, we saw the same value for players” Millet says. “We want the connection between players and fans. It is very important. And so whatever we can do to maintain any of that, a snippet of it, during this time we will try. ”

The Warriors are only a few weeks into this test as well. “I feel like there is even more innovation happening within the space and the experience,” says Millet. “Set it up and forget it” is not the experience we introduced last week. We will always try to improve that. ”

So what would that be like? “Field knowledge is very much about the fan-cam, you know when we have a dance competition or different types of activities” Millet acknowledges. “These things are very important in areas. So can you recreate that in some way with meaningful fans? ”Then there is interaction with the broadcast. “Fans like to see themselves on TV too.” Millet says “And so if we created those fan-cam times, how do we make sure they get some kind of of visibility and sight, so that people can see it and connect with it? ”

The team behind Dub Hub are also thinking about how they can “strengthen social cohesion” as Millet puts it, raising the question “how do we get some of the content that happens in these rooms and share them to a wider audience across our social platforms and get a level of interaction? ”

Then there is a new opportunity to bring fans in all over the world and give them a chance to experience a game. “We are a global brand, we now have fans all over the world. While most fans in that experience so far may have been fans within the market, this is something that allows us to expand the reach of our audience and to bring fans and non-market fans into experience in a different way that they may have only seen through previous broadcasts. “

Meaningful fans may come to a field near you

The Warriors are still the only NBA team with a significant fan base present. “I think one of the reasons you may not have seen more teams doing it is that it’s heavy lifting to go off the ground,” says Millet.

The unexpected short turn for the new season was an added challenge for any team thinking of bringing in a fan base. “For a long time through the bubble and the hiatus I think the debate was that the league might not start until mid-February and then the talks grew and grew a lot,” Millet explains. “Even though we got the technological piece of what we needed to do, we hadn’t done the activity to bring in the fans.” As a result it was a fast pace to get everything done “We did a beta test for a week, up to the live date, which was a tight window and there were definitely concerns. first day of beta testing I would say! ”

Now, however, many other teams are getting in touch to find out more. Millet says the interest is not just from basketball teams. “I’m getting a lot of research from baseball teams right now which makes sense where they’re in the design rounds. Last year they had no chance from a timeline perspective to pick up anything except some executed people. ”

As the world slowly emerges to a new normal level over 2021, the presence of a significant fan is something that could last longer than the current situation. So is the Chase Center a hybrid with personal and meaningful fans on the cards? “Yeah, for sure” Millet replies. “The idea is that it won’t be 100% out of the gate so I think there’s a way this can sit side by side for a while with the capacity building of part and fans, side by side. inside meaningful knowledge. ”