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Augmented Reality (AR) in Sports

4 minute read · Issue Number 88 · October 1st, 2021

Ronen Ainbinder

Oct 1, 2021

Welcome to another weekly edition of Sports-Tech Biz! Every Friday, we learn about intriguing topics related to sports, business, and technology. If you’re reading this online or in a forwarded email, sign up for the newsletter:

Hi there,

Last week’s podcast featured a great conversation about Augmented Reality (AR) in sports. However, I want to dive a bit deeper with you into the topic.

Why does AR matter? What problems is it solving?

Lastly, we’ll look at different use cases, examples, predictions, and opportunities of this fascinating technology in the world of sports.

Shall we?

Augmented Reality in Sports

Grown-Ups Loved the N.F.L. on Nickelodeon. But What About Children? - The New York Times

Why it matters?

People watch sports to have an experience, fulfill needs related to sharing, feeling, and belonging, and become a contributing factor to a team’s success.

As sports fans, we want to feel involved and as close to the action as we can — we long for the entertainment that best fulfills our needs.

Leagues, teams, and athletes want to develop stronger bonds between themselves and their followers — it’s good for business.

🔍 Problem

Leagues, teams, and athletes want to get closer to their fans in the most efficient ways.

Tech exists to help humans do things easier, faster, smaller, and cheaper — it serves as powerful leverage to execute more with less.

Fans want to feel even more engaged – and even more during the pandemic.

How to strengthen this bond efficiently?

💡 Solution & Examples

Augmented reality enables a new set of experiences catered at fans in a whole other dimension.

NFL “Slimetime” with Nickelodeon

The NFL partnered up with Nickelodeon in a fun game broadcast to attract younger viewers to the National Football League. The result? It brought in a MASSIVE 2.06 million viewers.

AR Pro Interactive

Verizon’s app gives you a first-hand look into how sports pros like Megan Rapinoe, Ray Allen, Tony Finau, Sloane Stephens, and more perform their signature moves in AR.

Pose With The Pros

The Dallas Cowboys and AT&T developed the “pose with the pros” activation to enhance the fan experience at their stadium.

Bleacher Report @BleacherReport

This Cowboys photo experience at AT&T Stadium is mind-blowing 🤯 @brgridiron (via @sergcio)

HADO Sports

An AR sport that puts the power of energy balls and shields in players’ hands on a real-life court. HADO redefines the landscape of sports to push athletes farther than anyone ever thought possible.

🔮 Predictions & Opportunities

Augmented reality will not substitute any live sports experience. Still, it will be a great way of complementing it by improving the stadium’s customer journey, entertainment during pre-game and in-game breaks, and others.
There will be an “AR Fiverr” (online marketplace) for brands and AR providers to connect for new opportunities in immersive technologies for every budget.
In the fitness and wellness market, AR will be huge – see Homecourt, Valo Motion, Photon Lens.
Despite the failed Google Glasses — smart AR-enabled glasses will eventually prevail.
There will be a few leaders in different markets, such as Second Spectrum in sports broadcast, but there will also be niche winners.

🔗 Links & Use Cases

Why Slime Time worked in NFL primetime on Nickelodeon?; An innovative and delightfully goofy departure for the traditionally buttoned-down NFL, which only a few years ago didn’t as much as allow end-zone celebrations.
French TV experiments with AR at the Stade de France for Coupe de France 2021; “Adding the cities to cover the full grass using AR was an incredible challenge; usually we do just some objects or scoring, but never such wide AR flight.”
Four of the Best Olympians, as You’ve Never Seen Them; This article will blow your mind.

🎙 Halftime Snack of the Week

Building Brands in Sports Media

The 67th episode of the podcast features — Andres Cardenas, CMO of Minute Media.

Minute Media is one of the leading media and technology-focused platforms in sports and the mastermind behind publications like The Players’ Tribune, 90min, and FanSided.

Our conversation featured discussions around the difference between the media and the clickbait industries, the challenges and mindset of an experienced CMO in sports, best practices in marketing and branding, the future of media, and so much more.

Listen on Apple | Spotify | Google

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