When the Miami Heat host the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday afternoon, it won’t only be another chapter in their budding rivalry, but it will also mark the dawn of a new technological era for Miami basketball.
Tomorrow, Miami Heat Arena – formerly known as FTX Arena – will be debuting their new AI digital art installation done by AT&T.
As part of AT&T’s ongoing partnership with the Miami organization and the NBA, they are launching three new installations inside the Heat arena: a HEAT map, game flow chart, and jersey machine mashup.
The HEAT map is an enhanced version of the heat maps you are usually accustomed to seeing. This map uses AI to chart each player’s shots over the course of a game with animations that grow in size and change in color as players rack up points. Like this:
As Heat fans know, Miami’s offense is predicated on ball movement. According to NBA.com tracking data, they are sixth in the entire league in passes made per game. The game flow chart showcases the HEAT’s pass-heavy offense by capturing ball movement around the court as depicted by various grooves of kinetic sand art.
Last but not least, for the more fashionably inclined fan, the Heat and AT&T will be introducing a jersey machine mashup. Inspired by Miami’s new City Edition line, which lets fans customize the numbers of their jersey, it matches fans’ most selected numbers to colorful visuals featuring HEAT number stylings using interactive motion tracking.
The most fascinating part of these new installations is that they utilize the speed and connectivity of AT&T Fiber to immediately pull in custom data sets like NBA game plays and jersey sales data to generate a colorful work of art and interactivity made for on-site fans to play, experience and share with their friends all via a scannable QR code visible on each display.
AT&T and the Heat’s goal in launching these new installations is to inspire fans by using its expertise in connectivity to unlock new possibilities in the things they love.
That’s why anyone interested in these innovative new features can access and interact with them firsthand simply by heading over to the East Plaza of the Miami Heat’s arena. Here’s a quick 30-second video showcasing some of what they can expect:
The Miami Heat Arena has been ranked the #1 Arena in Florida for the last eight years (and eleven of the last twelve), hosting more than 150 events every year. These newest additions will likely serve to keep that trend going for many years to come.
For more information, please visit HEAT.com.