An AR Portal is an entrance into a virtual world made possible through augmented reality.
You start by pointing at a surface of some kind, such as your carpet, your driveway, your floor, or the pavement. You scan this surface to create a doorway that is visible only on your phone and appears to be suspended in thin air. You then walk through this doorway to find yourself virtually in another world. The content that you see in this other world could be a 360-degree image or video, or even a synthetic computer-generated environment.
We launched our first AR portal with the Wolverhampton Wanderers at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, when Wolves fans had to stay at home instead of heading to Molineux Stadium for the matches. The Wolves came to us with the fantastic idea of allowing fans to visit Molineux remotely from their homes, and to enjoy a 360-degree view from between the dugouts.
The Wolves’ AR Portal was sponsored by Club Med and was available exclusively through the Wolves App, with the doorway in the hexagonal shape of the Wolves brand.
Since then, we’ve launched other AR Portals with other teams.
- The Carolina Panthers worked with us on their AR portal, which had a doorway shape that traced the outline of the Panthers’ logo. You could virtually walk through a Panther-head doorway onto the Bank of America Stadium field, and look around the stadium.
- The Los Angeles Chargers worked with us on their AR portal, which had a doorway shape of a lightning bolt evoking the Chargers brand. You could virtually walk through the bolt-shaped doorway onto the SoFi Stadium field, and look around this brand-new stadium.
So, visit Molineux Stadium, Bank of America Stadium, SoFi Stadium, from your couch, whenever you feel like it. Right from the team app.