Nike has teamed up with Seattle design firm Teague to create a new concept airplane cabin designed specifically to meet the needs of sports team travel.
NikeBlog announced that the sports-technology giant and aviation-technology company joined together in this effort, with an understanding that by combining their resources, the companies could create a groundbreaking aircraft that would mitigate the negative effects that air travel can have on athletes.
"Leveraging Teague's expertise in high-end aviation design, and Nike's sports-technology and -performance savvy, the aircraft cabin strips out the typical 100-400 passenger capacity, instead using that space to focus on the specific needs of a group as small as a 13-person basketball team," Nike said. "Specific zones are employed throughout the interior, each prioritizing a distinct need and designed around quantified athletic data and specifications, as analyzed by Nike"
The special zones that Nike talked about were explained on Teague's website:
Recovery: equalizing the negative effects of air travel on the mind and body, and bringing the training room to 40,000 feet through in-flight biometrics and analysis to accelerate injury diagnosis and treatment.
Circulation: fostering natural mobility and building in equipment that ensures optimal circulation and promotes healing.
Sleep: designing ideal sleeping conditions for individuals and sleep strategies for entire teams to maximize physical readiness.
Thinking: creating spaces for key mental activities, especially film study-enabling in-transit film review both before and after games.
Such an aircraft would certainly be a game-changer for professional sports franchises. Teague created a user scenario, using the Portland Trail Blazers to exemplify what a West Coast team traveling to New York goes through on a standard chartered flight. The company points out that even the slightest inconveniences could hurt the team's ability to perform at their highest level on game day.
"Imagine your favorite center at 7-plus feet folding himself into the classic airplane seat, airplane noise, dehydrating air, standard airplane meals," Teague writes. "Even on a chartered flight, the smallest inconveniences and discomforts of flying take their toll, leaving athletes drained and depleted by the time they arrive at their game."
Check out some of breathtaking technology in the photos above, which were posted on Teague's website.
