Photo via Intel
The way sports is consumed hasn’t yet fundamentally changed, but it could in the near future.
Only two years old, Intel Sports is starting to hit its stride. The legacy and importance of its half-century-old parent company provides a lot of opportunities, but being a new vertical helps approach sports with a fresh mind.
“When you look at Intel’s background with data, it’s great,” said James Carwana, vice president and general manager of Intel Sports. “But we can approach things with a blank sheet of paper and not worry about how things have been done.”
Carwana said technology has brought a lot of new ideas to the sports media industry, but there’s still a large gap between consumer demand and the supply in what media is offered. There’s the demand that’s growing and a shift in consumer expectations, which is where the opportunity lies for companies that figure out the gap.
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“Tech hasn’t fundamentally changed the way we experience the game,” he said. “The supply is the opportunity we’re chasing after. What are fans looking for in an experience, and what would it take to give them an experience that satisfies?”
That supply is where the idea of immersive media comes in as a supplement to general sports media, a subject addressed heavily at this year’s CES in Las Vegas. Companies such as Intel believe fans are looking for an increase in interaction, personalization and data-rich environments in their sports-viewing experiences of the future.
For some, this idea of extra content is about an ego play, Carwana said.
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“There is a level of ego in a sports fan,” he said. “You want to prove to your friends and social media that you see things better. That’s how betting works. I know better, I’ll bet against the odds.”
Immersive media is a strange concept, Carwana further expressed with his ego concept. For some, today’s sports media options are more than plenty, even essentially at a linear, one-sided production with highlights. Others want more. If a fan loves the defensive aspect of a game, maybe choosing views that highlight defensive parts of a sport will provide a more immersive viewing experience to that fan than the general public.
At the heart of Intel Sports’ mission to help solve that supply issue is where the company’s 2019 goal lies. By the end of the year, Carwana said his main objective is to demonstrate volumetric video at 30 frames per second.
Volumetric video is an array of 2D cameras compiled into a 3D model.
In sports, those videos can allow broadcasters to look at a play in any view they’d like, as well as additional uses on the team, league and officiating perspective. Intel’s position in sports media is not about owning content or broadcasting rights, but how that content can be delivered.
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“Tech for tech’s sake is a recipe for an unsuccessful business,” Carwana said. “But from a tech standpoint, that’s fundamentally it. It will be an eye-opening moment many thought wasn’t possible — volumetric content at a stadium scale and produced at that rate.”
Intel has partnerships with LaLiga, MLB, NBA on TNT, NFL, NCAA, as well as esports, and they all bring their own unique goals and aspirations. In addition, Intel and Chinese e-commerce and cloud giant Alibaba formed a partnership for the 2020 Olympics to 3D-map athletes. Carwana said even more partnerships will be announced through the first quarter of 2019.
In the meantime, don’t be surprised if sports technology continues to speed up.
“One of the big surprises in 2018 was how fast fans moved into different types of different experiences,” he said. “How quickly ESPN+ achieved a million subscribers, four times faster than some industry analysts expected.”
