How Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality are Already Changing the Sports Industry
THE FUTURE OF BASEBALL:
Major League Baseball (MLB) is making an effort — through different verticals — to make the sport more technologically advanced. The game itself has transformed over the years to give fans more in-depth looks through ‘Statcast’ and advanced analytics.
But virtual and augmented reality will take this sport to the next level, and the executives of the MLB are working towards bringing those immersive experiences to the fans and players of the game.
“I think the next big step for us, as all sports, is going to be virtual reality…It’s amazing,” Commissioner Rob Manfred stated. “Consumer adoption is growing fast, so let’s take a look at where VR and AR might be taking baseball fans next:”
One of MLB’s first attempts took place at this year’s All-Star Fan Fest where fans could have their own ‘custom-built experience inside a special batting cage’. This particular Home Run Derby in VR provided fans with an amazing new technology that allows users of all ages the incredible opportunity to virtually step up to the plate in their favorite ballpark, swing the bat and hear the roar of the crowds.
“It’s a sensory experience that only VR can deliver and one that always leaves them wanting more, just one more at-bat," said Jamie Leece, MLBAM’s vice president, games.
After putting on a headset, you will be transported to a stadium of your choice. After taking in the stunning 360-degree view of the entire stadium, it’s time to stare down the pitcher and swinging for the fences. How is all of this possible? Statcast Barrels on the VR baseball bat keep and analyze all types of data in order to reproduce a quality VR experience.
Another advancement in baseball came in 2017 when MLB released At-bat VR which ‘became the first complete live-game sports experience in Virtual Reality, which meant that not only could you watch real-time video (or any archived game back to 2015), you could do it in an immersive virtual experience.’
All you need is a mobile phone, the Daydream VR app, an active MLB.TV account, as well as the Daydream view headset and you are ready to go. To note, when it states that you are watching a game in ‘real-time’, what you are actually seeing is a pre-recorded video; everything you see is post-rendered and on a 5–7 second delay.
What about augmented reality? AR still allows you to see some of the real world through the device camera and your brain can then acknowledge that the virtual content you are seeing is not actually real. Using ‘Statcast integration’, we will be able to track data constantly, in turn allowing us to hold up our device and for example, follow a runner around the bases with his headshot along with his player stats superimposed on top.
For example, ‘If a runner on first has an 11-foot lead, and the catcher has an average pop time, you will know optimal running or throw-over situations, based on the up-to-the-second data.’ Data tracking is one of the keys to the seamless streaming, and the idea is if data is constantly uploading, the fan experience is enhanced because the speed in which one is receiving data increases.
Chad Evans, MLBAM senior vice president, product development, mobile:
“We have all this real-time data thanks to Statcast™, and it will augment the game you are seeing out on the field…AR is going to bring new experiences to the fans, and baseball will be at the forefront. There are so many untapped possibilities of what this technology can do,“ said Chad Evans, MLBAM senior vice president, product development, mobile.
What Exactly Is Statcast Technology?
This technology is a perfect fit for baseball; a sport highly focused on stats, especially those pertaining to distance and speed. Coaches can track players and analyze each game in detail to give their team a better chance to win. Fans can also take advantage of the technology and see the breakdown of how their favorite athletes perform. Experts would call this data collection progressive, meaning the data is streaming and being collected constantly. So as time passes, we will have more data being pushed to our devices at a more rapid pace. In turn will speed up analysis and create more powerful intelligence, allowing us to make faster and more accurate decisions. Progressive downloading will also give the camera the ability to change views in something closer to real-time. Today, Statcast technology is currently available in 30 MLB parks.
However, while all this data is extremely useful, it will still need a human component to keep viewers engaged. Stats are lovely, but can you imagine watching a game and all you are viewing is stats on your phone — not particularly exciting. It is essential to balance the newest and greatest technology, while at the same time keeping a human component; without it, teams are sure to lose fans.
Joe Inzerillo, executive vice president and chief technology officer of MLB Advanced Media:
“The context of it gets better as you acquire more data, so we can say things like, ‘That was the fifth-fastest run to first base’ or ‘That was the best route efficiency this season…Those types of statistics will wind up being developed over time, and then, on a historical basis, a decade from now we’ll be looking back saying, ‘That was the highest route efficiency that’s ever been captured in baseball.’”
The Early Stages of VR in BASKETBALL:
Basketball is in the early stages of bringing VR to major-league play. The NBA is working to team up with Time Warner Sports and Intel to make NBA games available in VR. The initial cameras that will allow for 360-degree views are set up at the American Airlines Center in Dallas and the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
The programming power of Intel is what makes this all possible. According to James Carwana, vice president and general manager of Intel Sports, ‘Intel will set up a coterie of special lenses and cameras at arenas…Fans who are subscribers can call up a virtual reality game experience through a forthcoming NBA on TNT VR app on Samsung;’s GearVR and Google Daydream headsets that can be downloaded from Oculus and Google Play stores. The technology allows us to transport you to the sideline,and then you can go from the best seat in the house and move closer to the court.’ The power of the Intel True VR technology will change the fan experience.
These capabilities will not only help announcers to pause ‘key moments’ but also allow players to go back and watch full game coverage in 3D from a variety of camera angles.
FOOTBALL: ‘TAKE TRAINING TO THE NEXT LEVEL’
Much like Baseball and Basketball, Football is making waves in the mixed reality sector also. One of the biggest names in immersive technologies, STRIVR, is focusing their efforts on ‘America’s new pastime’.
While multiple reps and time on the field may be key in harnessing an athlete’s greatest talent and ability, it can also take a toll on the body. Using STRIVR athletes can take unlimited reps off the field. The athletes will also start recognizing patterns faster given the capability of running repetitions from various angles. Virtual Reality reps allow for athletes to recover while keeping their minds sharp with game-speed experiences. According to STRIVR, ‘Teams have improved recollection of key concepts by more than 30%’.
To note, STRIVR technology has proved invaluable for a variety of sports including hockey (Washington Capitals and the Chicago Blackhawks), the NBA (Washington Wizards and Detroit Pistons) as well as the PGA Tour and the US Ski Team as well as some college teams, just to name a few. This ‘immersive training platform’ is most certainly the wave of the future creating not only for realistic sporting environments but also skill development and analysis.
SUCCESS SERIES:
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Other Companies Making Headway in VR:
NextVR is a broadcasting startup that focuses on not only covering professionals sports but at the same time changing the entire fan experience. ‘The NBA has made the most progress in adopting VR, but other leagues are not far behind, and NextVR has already covered three mid-season NFL games plus the Super Bowl, the live-stream broadcast of the International Champions Cup (ICC) soccer games, the VR capture of a NASCAR race and a couple of NHL games.’
Another company making the most noise to date is Spanish startup FirstV1sion whose technology uses ‘smart wearables to offer player perspective video feeds at several sporting events, including a Euroleague basketball match. The garment contains an embedded HD camera and a microphone, plus additional sensors that monitor player health stats.’
Additionally, VR startup, Beyond Sports, works to gather data from soccer matches to create 3D simulations of the game. Owners of the VR headset are able not only explore the game from anywhere throughout the stadium but can do so through the perspective of fans, players, and officials. While the fan experience may not be the same as of yet, teams themselves can use the technology to scout future competition.
The last notable startup to mention is Replay Technologies whose “freeD” rendering technology uses a wide array of ‘ultra-high definition cameras positioned around the arena to create seamless, near-realistic 3D rendering of the action. While the technology hasn’t been used to capture full games, it has already been put to successful display at the NBA Slam Dunk Contest.’
While Virtual Reality in sports has made huge strides, but is yet to reach its full potential. Colleges could use VR for bringing in recruits — they could be immersed in a practice, tour the locker room and the campus all without leaving home. The immersive potential of VR is endless.
The Key To Everything: How Do We Achieve Fully Immersive 360 Degree Virtual Reality?
A 360-degree video is needed to provide a viewer with a true immersive Virtual Reality experience. However, as of today, 360-degree VR can only be seen in 2D, meaning the images you are seeing are photographs that have been warped into a circle. Watching such video in a VR headset can be somewhat uncomfortable as this technology is only capable of delivering the VR video height and width. However our ‘subconscious also expects to see depth,’ and without depth, even the virtual reality world will look flat. It is the addition of depth that will help bring immersive VR to life.
Note, if interactions are not real and we do not get away from the mentality of the mouse, it will never be “real”. Depth is necessary, but even more important is the interaction. Even sound can make a 2D experience feel 3D. It takes optical, audio and a new integration interface — these are the three legs of the stool that VR is built upon. If there is a fourth, it might be haptic.
How do we get there?
In order to capture the entire world around us and create a ‘stereoscopic’ 3D view capable of a ‘final video [that] is a full 360-degree spherical movie’, one of the current systems used is a Virtual Reality camera system that has a minimum of ‘8 camera modules’, each recording the same scene simultaneously from a slightly different viewpoint. The overwhelming amount of data created by eight video streams will then need to be broken down by pixel, frame-by-frame and then assembled back into a single VR video capable of being watched in a 360 degree VR headset. The result is we can begin to see through any viewpoints we choose.
As an example, each of eight camera views are acting like eight parallel rivers, each trickling downstream with data that is being uploaded continuously. By being able to download data from eight slowly moving streams as opposed to one, we can pre-load or cash enormous amounts of data more quickly. One will be able to change camera angles within the VR experience more quickly, but still not live. It takes time to switch from view-to-view, river-to-river. If we can stream parallel rivers of content at the same time, we would be much closer to real-time VR.
So, how do we bring all the data together — through what is referred to as “stitching” or “rendering” — the process of combing the multiple camera angles into one single VR video file.
Through the use of geospatial mapping in fine detail, we will need to map all space within a single room. Each point will have its own GPS coordinates and attributes in space. Using future quantum processing, we can map all this data billions of times nearly instantaneously and through the use of multi-spectral rendering and pixel correction techniques as well as predictive user intent, the information can be put back together in ways our brain percieves as real and real-time, with height, width and depth to look natural.
The Virtual Reality medium is on a tear and will undoubtedly become the key to not only watching sports but also becoming part of the action. It will be fascinating to watch the technology expand into something to be viewed by all.
(Contributor, Jonathan Josephson, Founder & CTO of Quantum Interface LLC)
