Professional sports are fighting harder than ever for the attention of the next generation. With TikTok, streaming services and interactive experiences like video games taking up more time of young people, some sporting bodies are looking to technology to enhance the fan experience.
A key technology that might help connect traditional sports to young people is augmented reality. Allowing spectators in stadiums the chance to have real-time overlays to offer a lot of intuitively appealing benefits: live statistics supplementing the on-field action, animated players and mascots, real-time 3D effects (such as team line-ups) embedded, face filters, or even virtual directions around the stadium facilities.
Leagues and teams are trying. National Football League teams such as the Carolina Panthers and Baltimore Ravens have introduced “mixed-reality” mascots, large virtual depictions of their namesake animals that made for spectacular viral footage. At the 2022 FIFA World Cup, fans in Qatar could download a FIFA+ app that could project an augmented reality overlay of team and player data, such as heatmaps, line-ups and statistics.
