Visually impaired and low-vision fans must use delayed audio broadcasts to follow their favorite sport. But OneCourt is changing how those fans interact with their favorite teams. According to their website, the company has created a device that uses ball and player positional data, which is tracked at the league level, and translates it into their own haptic language into trackable vibrations on the surface of the device. Users can pair the device with radio broadcasts. The company provides these devices to some Major League Baseball and National Basketball Association teams.
In an interview with the Hoopsology Podcast, OneCourt CEO and lead designer Jerred Mace said that a video of a man who is blind at a soccer match inspired him to create the device and launch the company in September 2021, at the start of his junior year at the University of Washington.
“So it was through touch that he was engaging with and enjoying the game,” Mace said. “And that really has stood out to me and stuck with me honestly since then as both a designer and someone who’s had visual challenges growing up. It felt like just the perfect place to focus my attention. And yeah, that’s how we got started.”
With the company based in Seattle, Washington, when venturing into working with the NBA for the first time, partnering with the Portland Trail Blazers was the right fit for OneCourt, as they were the closest team to their location, Alexa Garay, Growth and Sports Partnerships Lead for OneCourt explains.
“So when you introduce new technology, and there’s a lot of processes that you want to go through and a lot of testing and setup work that needs to be done before you can actually implement this new technology,” Garay says. “So it was really about figuring out what team are we going to work with to actually figure out how we can bring this technology to fans in venues and to actually figure out how fans can use it. And the Portland Trail Blazers ended up being that team for us, partly because of proximity location-wise, we’re based in Seattle, and the closest NBA team to us.”
Garay details how it took a while for OneCourt to cultivate a relationship with the Trail Blazers.
“We connected with the Trail Blazers and talked to them for like a year and a half before we ever actually like did any work in arena with them, Mace said. “And now it’s much, much quicker where we’ll talk to a team and maybe it’s a month and a half later where we’re actually working with them in their arena with fans and getting the device being actually used during a live game.”
Currently, OneCourt is enrolled in the NBA Launchpad Program and has teamed up with Ticketmaster to have their devices available at Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, Phoenix Suns, and Brooklyn Nets games. The company has big plans to work with additional teams in the NBA.
“And so for next season, we’re hoping to work with 5, 10, maybe even 15 NBA teams to really reach as many fans as possible and work again with Ticketmaster on multiple of these teams to expand our reach,” Garay said. “In terms of kind of how the process has changed, we’re also in the NBA Launchpad program. And so that’s been a huge help in terms of helping us kind of just learn more about how to really operationalize our product and how to kind of just expand quicker throughout the NBA. So that’s also been a huge player in terms of our ability to expand quickly in the NBA specifically.”
OneCourt’s success has led its users to ask when the devices will be available for home use.
“Like right now, of course, we’re in venue, but fans have been asking us from the beginning, when can I get this in my house?” Mace said. “We view ourselves as a tactile broadcaster, and we want to be able to deliver this solution no matter where you are. You should be able to watch basketball. And that’s true for fans, right? Most fans are watching the game at home. So we’re definitely excited about that. We’re also working on that with the NBA through the Launchpad program, but that’s definitely an exciting expansion for us,” Mace said.
