Super Bowl fans get hit of virtual reality future

SAN FRANCISCO – Sports fans, think you prefer a snack-filled TV den to the mayhem of the stadium now?  Wait until virtual reality matures. You may never leave the couch.

As the countdown to Super Bowl Sunday continues here, visitors to football-themed pavilions at the Moscone Center and Super Bowl City are being exposed to VR demos that transport fans onto sidelines, beneath huddles and into locker rooms.

Jaunt VR and NextVR showcased NFL game footage that instantly makes regular TV look like radio. One moment you’re in the end zone as a kicker is being rushed, the next you’re on the sidelines next to a 6-foot-5 linebacker as he vents about a botched play.

Microsoft produced a video as part of a panel discussion about tech’s impact on football that envisions how users of its forthcoming augmented reality HoloLens glasses will be able to gather with friends and watch a game with virtual features overlaid over a live television experience.

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And SAP brought its Quarterback Challenge kiosk up from Super Bowl venue Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, where all year fans have used VR to feel what it’s like to be a quarterback under pressure from a tough defense.

“VR can give you a special ticket, giving you access to athletes and what they do in a totally unique and unforgettable way,” says Jaunt VR spokesman Miles Perkins.

Although there’s the promise of a combined $120 billion annual market by 2020, these remain early days for the technology.

High-end hardware from the likes of Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Sony has yet to roll out to consumers and will do so at prices up to $2,000 for computer and goggle combos. While lower cost options such as Google Cardboard and Samsung Gear VR exist, these smartphone-based VR experiences remain less sophisticated than what's on display here.

What’s more, the content itself remains in a largely experimental phase. VR companies continue to build out camera and pixel-processing tech while courting enterprises such as the National Football League for what could be lucrative licensing deals.

But judging even from brief football-in-VR clips, the prospect of experiencing a live sporting event in virtual reality remains tantalizing. "It’s about connecting fans to the sports they love in ways we could never dream of before," says NextVR co-founder DJ Roller, whose company was behind the VR broadcast last fall of the first game of the season for NBA champions Golden State Warriors.

That means not only one day being able to call up your preferred game stats or fantasy football information in your field of view, but also possibly collecting virtual autographs of players while visiting locker rooms in VR, says Roller, adding that "you can envision perhaps even being able to have a promising high school player get a one-on-one VR tutorial from a pro."

Virtual reality also will also be used to make the stadium experience more fun for fans, offsetting the traffic hassles and costs of coming to the game. SAP’s Quarterback Challenge, which tasks viewers to complete a game-winning fourth-down-and-eight-yards pass via a joy-stick controlled Oculus Rift headset, often has long lines at Levi’s.

“Something like this can create a stronger call to action for fans to actually come to the game,” says Ward Bullard, vice president of product management for SAP, the German-based enterprise software company. “The in-home experience is so good, that it helps to make a day at the stadium feel richer.”

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But only 50,000 to 80,000 people can fit into an NFL stadium. So the biggest opportunity for VR remains in the home den. As live streaming improves, image compression rates speed up and VR technology gets lighter and cheaper, it may get tougher to convince fans to hit the road.

“Its about sensors and the senses, and the only thing that will be missing at home is the smell and touch of being at the stadium,” says Chris Carmichael, chairman of Ubiquity Studios, which helps clients ranging from NFL Films to the Air Force develop digital assets.

Carmichael is convinced that the Super Bowl in particular is fertile ground for VR experimentation because of the appeal of not just the game itself, but also its multi-million-dollar commercials.

“Many people watch the Super Bowl just for the ads, so that’s a great opportunity for (a company) to offer something really engaging and disruptive, which VR excels at,” he says. “In this case, the technology has to catch up with the already high engagement level” of Super Bowl viewers.

Replay Technologies is another company that's been pushing hard into the sports arena with its freeD tech, 360-degree images that leverage cloud computing to turn 2D pixels into 3D pixels called “voxels.”  The idea is that fans can review a play or a controversial referee call to their hearts’ content. Dozens of cameras mounted in a stadium capture the action, and computers then process the resulting images to create the immersive view.

“The next step is getting this content in VR, because that’s a place where as a fan I can literally live on the field,” says Replay spokesman Preston Phillips. “This sort of technology can help broadcasters with their storytelling of the game.”

While the talk here is fittingly all about football, that particular gladiatorial sport may not actually be the ultimate showcase for sports VR, says Jaunt VR's Perkins.

"I can't wait for boxing in VR, and that's not because I'm an especially big fan," he says. "Imagine not only feeling like you're in the ring with the boxers, but also being able to turn to your right and see what Jay Z is doing in the seat next to you. Now that's the kind of ticket you're likely never going to get, but you can have it through VR."

Follow USA TODAY tech reporter Marco della Cava on Twitter @marcodellacava.