NBA on glass? German company would love to challenge basketball's hardwood-floor foundation
Chris Thornton loves talking about playing basketball on the most fragile-sounding of surfaces: glass.
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Thornton is managing director of the Americas division of ASB GlassFloor, a German company building floors made of fused-together layers of safety glass covering LED panels. The courts are a far more dynamic visual feast, with customised playing lines, logos, colours, animated graphics and advertisements for multiple sports.
In basketball, where wood is still king, Thornton sees growth potential for glass courts – already showing up in the NBA and internationally – as a tech-driven alternative to the sport's long-running hardwood foundation.
'I use this analogy a lot: we're at the initial stages of the iPhone being launched,' Thornton said. 'Way back when Apple did that, the design of the hardware has changed, but more importantly the original iPhone was just a phone, a text device and music player. Now you're running your entire life and communicating to the world on it. I see this in the same regard.'
But it's glass!
It seems strange at first blush – big, strong athletes jumping and running across a court of glass while 'pounding the rock' and even diving on the floor. That is a future ASB GlassFloor company envisions, citing technology improvements allowing for a safe and viable surface featuring stunning visuals that can be changed with a few swipes and taps of a smartphone or tablet app.
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