Pioneering Israeli company gives fans a players’-eye view of top basketball games

Ever wanted to get inside the head of an international basketball player?

Well, from next season, an Israeli start-up company will televise games for fans as players see them.

In a historic first, viewers will be able to watch parts of the match from a player’s point of view after MindFly signed an agreement with the Euroleague.

And footage can be bought as a non-fungible tokens (NFT).

Top players’ skills might still be just as bewildering, though.

MindFly will fit each player with an AI-powered bodycam during games, after six months of trials since October. For the first time, fans will be able to watch, hear, and experience everything their favorite player does on the court.

Two to three players will wear the bodycams during matches. Using this footage, MindFly’s cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) system will create First-Person Point of View (FPV) highlights for Euroleague social channels.

Euroleague is planning to convert this content into non-fungible tokens (NFT), which it will be sold to Euroleague fans.

MindFly recently signed a similar agreement with Bayern Munich Basketball Club, whose players will wear the bodycams during training sessions. The behind-the-scenes content will be used on its social platforms and later possibly sold as NFT.

Alex Ferrer, Euroleague’s Senior Director, Marketing and Communication said: “MindFly’s FPV solution will transport fans right into the court during matches and training sessions and deepen the relationships between fans, players, clubs and leagues. We’re proud to to offer such a stupendous innovation to our fans.

 Marc Bertomeu, EuroLeague Innovation Manager said: “Finally, we’ve found an AI First Person Point of View solution that’s 100 per cent safe, 100 per cent wearable and 100 per cent invisible.”

MindFly was founded in early 2021 by two entrepreneurs, chief executive Eran Tal and chief technical officer Yehuda Elmaliach. Eran previously founded and ran startups Evrideo, Goopi.tv, and Individual.tv. Yehuda was co-founder and CTO at Optibase, which floated on Nasdaq and reached a market cap of half a billion dollars. He also co-founded and was CTO of Mobixell, an Israeli startup which was sold to Flash Networks.