Michael Pointer

michael.pointer@indystar.com

Indiana Pacers officials will use Wednesday's showdown against the two-time defending NBA champs to show off new technology that might change the way fans watch the game.

Google Glass will provide first-person views on the video board from people wearing specialized goggles during the game against the Miami Heat. None of the Pacers players will be wearing them, but the Pacemates — the team's cheerleading squad — mascot Boomer and public address announcer Michael Grady are among those that will do so.

The Pacers are the second NBA team to use Google Glass. The Sacramento Kings began using it at their home games at Sleep Train Arena earlier this season. Pacers vice president of marketing Rob Laycock said the team thinks it will be especially valuable in Indianapolis because of the massive scoreboard and videoboard installed above the Bankers Life Fieldhouse court before last season.

"The motivation really is the in-game experience," Laycock said. "When a ball boy or someone else is on the court, he can't carry a camera, but he can wear the glasses. You're going to get a visual from him we've never had before on the scoreboard during a game."

Laycock said team officials know that telecasts of Pacers game are now of such high quality that it's an incentive for some fans to stay home and watch on television. The addition of Google Glass is one way to address that, he said.

"Anyone can watch the game in a bar or on their couch," he said. "But we have to give fans more and more reason to come to Bankers Life Fieldhouse."

Google Glass is run by San Francisco-based CrowdOptic, which tested the system along with Pacers officials during last Friday's home game against the Chicago Bulls. The signal is transmitted from the glasses to the software via Wifi, just like a signal is transmitted from a cell phone or a computer inside the Fieldhouse.

"Now you can see these crazy, emmersive views as if you are looking through someone else's eyes," CrowdOptic chief operating officer Jon Fisher said. "That's because you are (doing just that)."

Fisher said he envisions a day in the near future when teams such as the Pacers incorporate Google Glass into their game telecasts. He and Laycock both added that fans may also have the option of wearing them at some point, although it may not be for everyone. Laycock noted that the goggles sometimes give the sensation of a smart-phone screen up against the right eye.

"There's a comfortability factor that everyone has to deal with," he said.

Laycock said the Pacers paid about $1,500 apiece for 10 pairs of goggles. Pacers players will wear the goggles during practice later this season on a non-game day. Video from that will be made public. Pacers center Roy Hibbert wore the glasses in a series of promotional videos last summer.

For now, the Pacers don't plan to use Google Glass on the basketball end, but coach Frank Vogel sees a day when such technology could prove useful to him and other coaches.

"We use (video) all the time to teach," Vogel said. "If you had that for every player, and you wanted to show him his different reads, it might be valuable."

Call Star reporter Michael Pointer at (317) 444-2709. Follow him on Twitter @michaelpointer.