What Is Virtual Reality & How it Could Potentially Take Over Sports Programming on TV
As avid sports fans, we all want a way to be closer to the action — not only on the field but also in the locker room and beyond. What sports fan wouldn’t love being fully immersed in a game? From avoiding tackles on the football field to exploring an entire soccer game from anywhere in the stadium?
Lately, the use of 360-degree cameras at sporting events has become a key in live streaming television and has lead to the beginnings to true Virtual Reality. If you do not have the luxury to fly around the world to watch your favorite teams, one can purchase a VR headset along with an app that will transport you right into the midst of the action without ever having to leave your home. What is important to note is that live streaming VR is still in development and has some hurdles to overcome.
An example of this is the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games where they attempted to offer VR coverage through networks like NBC and BBC, each having their own respective app. However, because VR broadcasting is still in its beginning stages, the events were streamed a day after they took place, making the effort less than successful.
While the Olympic attempt may have come up short in many ways, it did implant the idea and many big sports leagues ‘caught on to the potential value of the medium’ and many companies are working to build a platform capable of giving viewers the full Virtual Reality experience.
VR can personalize the viewing experience for fans. For example, you can:
- Change camera angles
- Capture in-experience videos for sharing on Twitter or Facebook
- Replay your favorite moments
- Generate statistics
The Down-Low on Virtual Reality:
Virtual Reality vs. Immersive Virtual Reality typically implies that one’s eyes are entirely covered. One advantage of VR over IVR is that we are better able to suspend our disbelief about what we see as real in the virtual reality world as long as what we are seeing is acting like the real world. This effect can be maximized through the use of physics, field theory, and touch - to name a few.
So, the problem with creating a true virtual reality experience is that, as of today, most VR is post-rendered meaning it is video specific with delays — we are viewing pre-loaded data from multiple media sources, which is why they can switch from feed-to-feed, but this cannot be done in real-time…yet.
If we look at the make-up of our brain, our frontal lobe is used with the most highly focused part of our eyes, which sees 2-degrees off of the center of the eye. The actual state inside the brain is called the theoretical view. Everything else is processed without the foveate view in the middle part of the brain using our peripheral brain. In this part of the brain, the entorhinal cortex is the gateway to the hippocampus where most of our memories are stored. In regards to Virtual Reality, the fastest part of our brain does not look at actual objects but instead looks at patterns. Through pattern recognition and scanning, we can build a world using this peripheral vision and not by focusing on individual objects.
As humans, we are spoiled having the use of both our eyes in conjunction to our brain. Technology needs to increase its sheer processing ability in order to move virtual reality away from working in the post-rendered world to that of a true virtual reality in real time. (Jonathan Josephson, Quantum Interface Technology LLC - ‘Changing the way we interact with the world.’).
While experts believe we still may be 10 years away from seeing proper and complete VR, companies are jumping in a deep end of sorts and working to make headway toward an unlimited VR sports broadcast.
So What is the Future of VR How Do We Get There?
After speaking at length with Jonathan Josephson, the Founder & CTO of Quantum Interface LLC,about VR, where the technology is today and what it needs to grow and transform moving forward, he summarized,
“The thing most needed for VR to succeed is a Quantum Interface, which means we need to fundamentally change the way we think about space, objects and ourselves. We have to cross the huge divide of older 2D digital GUIs being forced into 3D environments, and get to analog for things to go from the mouse to natural, and from virtual to “real”. In the physical universe, dynamic motion, from a quantum level to a galactic scale, is the expression of energy and forces, and creates this foundation. It becomes the thread that ties visual, audible, haptic, and all other senses together with our experiences, and even the way our brain perceives our relationships with everything, and even our very being.”
Additionally, Travis Cloyd, co-founder of Sports Tech Media, which creates customized XR (AR, VR & MR) technologies, shared his view on the future of sports media:
“The possibilities are endless with immersive technology like virtual and augmented reality. Through VR you can teleport yourself onto the sideline of a game or put on a haptic suit and rush outside the pocket trying to avoid a defensive lineman coming at you. In AR you can scan a team’s logo or brand sponsor and bring a custom animated message to life. These mediums are advancing every day allowing us the ability to build the ultimate fan experience. In the near future, we will purchase products in real-time as we watch live events through VR. Today, we are becoming smarter as an audience and so we’ve advanced our appetite. We strive to be closer to the action and in many cases be apart of it, but we simply can’t. This is the first time in history when sports technology gives us the edge not only in training, or observation but also in fan engagement.”
Success Series & Virtual Reality
Our mission is to develop and use cutting-edge VR technology to provide individuals with amazing coaching opportunities with world’s top athletes that would otherwise not be possible in the real world. Virtual reality is truly changing the way we will not only learn, but also interact with the world. So, watch out world and get excited, because it is going to be awesome.
“IT’S PRETTY COOL. WITH THE VIRTUAL REALITY, I COULD BE STANDING IN A BUNKER AND IT FEELS LIKE YOU’RE STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO ME.”
- RICKIE FOWLER, Success Series Ambassador
