Mixed Reality: how virtual and augmented reality are revolutionizing the sports industry

The ’90s were a very important period for the Virtual Reality (VR) market. Even though many projects haven’t succeeded, it was in that period that the foundation for what was to happen twenty years later was laid:
- in 2015, tools such as Samsung Gear VR, Google Cardboard and Oculus Rift entered the market;
- in 2016, the mass spread of Augmented Reality (AR), thanks especially to the Pokémon Go game.
This movement that has strongly accelerated over the past two years and placed the spotlight squarely on the new big trend, Mixed Reality (MR).
A very promising market that starts today, in 2017
Defined by analysts as the combination of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (VR/AR) for creating new environments and visualizations where digital and physical objects coexist and interact in real-time, Mixed Reality has a market that:
- between 2017 and 2021 will grow annually by more than 75% (according to forecasts by Technavio);
- by 2024 will generate a turnover of $6.86 billion (according to analysts at Grand View Research).

The growing interest of developers in Mixed Reality applications will be one of the main reasons for market growth because they play a key role, and includes giants such as Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Samsung and Apple (to name just a few): this is demonstrated by the fact that Microsoft has already asked developer communities to create content for their Microsoft HoloLens.
What strengthens these forecasts are the growing investments by venture capitalists and Over The Tops like Facebook.

The analysis by CB Insights (published last year by the Wall Street Journal) is very interesting in this regard, which clearly shows how between 2013 and 2015 funding in VR/AR technologies and the number of projects almost doubled (going from 50 to 91) and tripled as a value (from $316 million in the period from 2012–2014 to more than $1.1 billion in 2015, and increasing to almost $2 billion in 2016), all due to the choice of Facebook to acquire Oculus.

Sport is one of the areas where Mixed Reality technology will be used effectively and aggressively because athletes, sports companies, fans, enthusiasts and supporters are already accustomed to the use of VR and AR technologies, because of, for example, training simulators for F1, cycling or football.
More and more immersive sports experiences
In research by Deloitte on trends in the Sports Industry dominating 2017, it emerges that the sports industry is accelerating investments in augmented and virtual reality technologies. Teams and leagues believe that these technologies may be the solution to increasing the “casual” enthusiast’s experience and will make fans feel from other parts of the world as if they were seated on the side-lines.
While virtual reality applications can be used to improve the sports enthusiasts experience directly home, those of augmented reality take advantage of the fans in the stadiums. AR apps therefore allow you to improve the stadium experience of fans such as getting real-time statistics on the athletes on the field, customize the seats of every fan, and tell fans where their friend is sitting.
With the incredible leap in technology over the last two years, virtual, augmented or mixed sports experiences are expanding, becoming more and more immersive in almost all fields, ranging from the enjoyment of content by fans to the development, training and recruiting of athletes.
To this end, teams are incorporating VR technology into player training programs to recreate in-play situations and help them with decision making, while reducing the risk of over-exertion or injury.
No more barriers for supporters, fans and enthusiasts
Mixed Reality will revolutionize Sport starting this year both in the field of entertainment and in improving the experience of fans and supporters through the enjoyment of interactive content and information on both home TV displays and smartphones/tablets or even with devices and screens that increase reality by offering new services to fans who are already at the stadium, at the arena, at the pool, or at any other sportsground or facility.
In this sense, a start has already been made in Italy with the offer by companies such as Sky and Fox (which provide interactive displays through which they supply additional content and information — visible on screens through Augmented Reality — for example, with game statistics or player performance) and by using sensors, IoT devices and micro-cameras that allow fans, for example, to hear and see exactly what players on the pitch feel and see.
The 2016 Rio Olympic Games was one of the best use cases thanks to the partnership between NBC and BBC broadcasters who guaranteed solid coverage of the Olympics also through “VR broadcasts” even if they were not shown in live streaming. The American company NextVR is betting on this new business: the coverage of professional sports through Mixed Reality broadcasts (produced and distributed by VR and AR) are destined to change the fan experience.
According to Christopher Lee, an Australian architect who has worked around the world for top international sports clients and designed over 30 stadiums on five different continents, technology is having a huge impact on how they are imagining stadiums. “Twenty years ago we introduced screens into stadiums, now we all have a super computer in our pockets that allows us to embed the visual experience: from different shooting angles to the monitoring of the heart rates, speed and impact of players wearing smart wearables on the field”.
The advantages for Sport Professionals
One of the more traditional forms for assessing an athlete’s performance and defining new tactics and game strategies is that of analysing footage of the game/event and training; a useful approach no doubt but with the limit of not being able to experience what the athlete actually feels when competing.
Virtual reality has already responded well in this regard: training/racing simulators are today technological tools so advanced as to allow an F1 driver, for example, to not only understand how a circuit is laid out but also to experience the same physical and mental sensations they would feel if they were actually on the track with their car.
The American company StriVR Labs has developed a Mixed Reality system for training American athletes that allows athletes to physically and mentally train through a realistic and repeated view of on-field action, enabling them to be able to analyse and test more often and with more perspectives, also from the “viewpoint” and the position of teammates or opponents.

A system that could open up new perspectives for coaches and sports companies not only to redefine the athlete’s training plans but also to evaluate and redesign tactics and game strategies.
Future impacts of technologies on the world of professional sport
Mixed Reality has still to show its full potential in the world of Sport but the prospective horizons are already being seen. For Example:
- new technologies can improve the recruitment of athletes, making university campuses become a touchpoint between recruiters and agents for facilitate the new talents search;
- athletes will be able to visit stadiums, Olympic campuses, arenas and sports facilities, locker rooms, etc. without physically travelling but through an immersive experience that goes far beyond looking at some simple photographs of the location;
- going forward, we could even see new sports realities based on Mixed Reality (although for the sake of pure entertainment, Pokémon Go had the advantage of combining game elements with exercise, a union that could certainly be formulated more professionally and with more sophisticated technologies, creating new forms of sports and fitness).
Certainly we cannot say that Mixed Reality will change reality as we have known, experienced and lived to date. However, as we have seen in market analysis and increasing investments, it is undeniable that in the coming years we will witness a profound transformation of the sports industry that will not only affect athletes, coaches, doctors and sports companies but also fans and supporters.

