The promises of Virtual Reality (VR) are here. Once a pipedream, venues are now using it to enhance the fan experience in ways unheard of before. Sports teams are using it to let fans experience the player’s point-of-view (POV). Universities are using it to help with recruiting and concert promoters are using it to send the live experience to fans who can’t get to a show. In the century of consumer choice, the days when you had to leave your house and go to a venue appear to be at a crossroads with technology that says you don’t. While this delights some, others are worried about the impact that VR will eventually have on the venue industry as we know it.
“We’re just entering the age of true consumer adoption of VR,” said Matt Mason, SVP, brand engagement, R&R Partners. “Because of things like PlayStation VR and Samsung Gear, people are finally able to interface with VR content. The technology has really advanced to the point that the creation of VR product has a low barrier of entry and the ubiquity of the products where you view the products are right there in the ledge. The golden period of VR is at our door.”
Mason said that VR can be as simple as “something a kid could put on YouTube or Facebook, which both have a native player associated with them” to hardware devices which include Google cardboard (an inexpensive cardboard VR box that costs $1-$2), an eye piece you can attach to your phone ($20-$80), the PlayStation ($400) and Samsung ($99) products to a high-end, tethered devices like HTC vive ($800) and Oculus ($600, but then you’ll need a high-powered Oculus Ready computer costing $950 to use it.)
Low-end VR content can be shot on sub-$500, 360-degree cameras, with high-end, tricked-out cameras starting at around $20,000 but, according to Mason, “most VR content today is shot on a series on Go Pros set in a very specific arrangement to capture each specific angle that needs to be captured.”
R&R Partners entered the venue-centric VR field with an activation for the National Hockey League, which wanted to celebrate the 125th Stanley Cup. “We wanted to let the fans engage with what it would be like to have the Stanley Cup brought out at the end of a winning season,” he explained. “So we created the experience through VR. What made it even better was when it was activated, and the actual Stanley Cup was presented at PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, to the Pittsburgh Penguins, people could take off their headsets and see it all happening in front of them live and reach out and touch the cup.”
The Arizona Diamondbacks, who play at Chase Field, Phoenix, wanted to create “what it feels like to be in the dugout, what it feels like to be in the bullpen, what it feels like to watch as the ball gets thrown from the pitcher to the batter,” he said. “We wanted to give fans the ability to get into the locker room or a suite.” Mason also suggested that VR where fans get to “tag along with the player throughout the day and experience what he sees” is powerful.
Graham Rossini, VP, special projects and fan experience, Arizona Diamondbacks, said the venue wanted to get the fans as close to the baseball action as possible and brought in Cox Communications to sponsor it. “This was the ideal scenario where we had like-minded partners at the table,” he said.
Six headsets were available on opening day in a dedicated space. “R&R shot a lot of footage during spring training,” explained Rossini. “Batting practice, base running drills, infield work, pitchers in the bullpens and they got the camera in places a fan would not be able to see either in-stadium or on a television screen.” Rossini said that they are still producing content for the VR experience and they continue to add more VR product in as they roll it out.
“It’s been enormously popular,” he said. “We’ve seen 400-500 people a night.”
The fan reaction has been “really positive, a lot of jaws dropping, a lot of wows,” he said. Conversations are underway with Major League Baseball (MLB) to incorporate some of the Chase Field footage onto the Ballpark app.
Mason said that the experience was not just made for the in-venue fans. “Both activations are being used for marketing,” he said. “They are pushing it through their social channels and putting it on YouTube.”
University of Mississippi’s Leah Beasley is using VR to marry the fan experience with selling premium seats and recruiting.
“We’re just diving into VR,” said Beasley. “We send VR boxes to season ticket holders. When the fan is on the VR box, the fan feels like they are part of the team. They can see what it’s like to be that close to an athlete. It helps in getting them to want to renew.”
Beasley also uses VR on the venue app to give fans the upclose and personal view of exciting things that just happened at a game. “We can do VR of kickoff or a great play and can get one up in 10 minutes,” she said.
Beasley was also thrilled with the ability to give the team recruiters VR boxes to take to a potential student athlete’s home. Dave Butler, Spectra Ticketing and Fan Engagement’s president and CEO, loved the VR box and said, “It’s a cool tool for season ticket holders or prospective students.”
Ballena Technologies makes VR software. Steve Stonehouse, Ballena, said, “most clients don’t have VR ready images and we can create them.” Stonehouse also suggested getting a sponsor to foot the bill for the VR. “We can put any logo on the program so when the fan looks at the VR they see the logo.”
A new release of Ballena’s Seats3D Platform, version 6.0, has full VR capability built in. “Clients that are renovating venues are using VR to send to top donors to preview what the renovated venue will look like when it’s done. This is used for donations or for previewing what the premium seats will look like,” explained Stonehouse.
NextVR is “building the world’s largest distribution platform for VR,” said Danny Keens, VP, content, NextVR. Currently, NextVR’s platform houses VR content from the National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA), FOX Sports, US Open Tennis and many others. The platform is sponsor driven; sponsors include Samsung (NBA), Lexus (Golf and US Open), Toyota (Daytona 500), Audi, (International Champions Cup soccer games) and Citibank (Live Nation).
It’s not just sports that are getting in on the VR revolution. Live Nation last year launched its virtual reality partnership with NextVR through the broadcast of a concert by music act Thievery Corporation. Live Nation and NextVR announced last May that they would collaborate to broadcast hundreds of live performances in VR to music fans worldwide. “It’s a multiyear partnership,” said Keens.
One such venture will be May 20, when Guns ‘N’ Roses guitarist Slash will be broadcast in VR when he performs at the 50th anniversary of the Los Angeles Zoo. Slash will appear in a live gig, and fans will also be given the chance to access VR behind-the-scenes footage features including a look at Slash’s rehearsal and an interview. The live VR content, sponsored by Citibank, will be broadcast on the NextVR app, for free.
As for the future, when a fan can watch an entire game on a VR headset, Mason said the technology is there, if not the will, yet. “Basketball, for instance, is challenging because you are constantly moving your head back and forth, but baseball presents a much better opportunity,” he said. “It’s really up to the rightsholders to decide when they want to make this an option.”
NextVR and the NBA have already dipped their toes in the full-game VR water. NBA basketball games, which are shown in their entirety, are “ticketed” at $6.99 a game or $199 for the whole season and get less expensive as the season progresses. “But only the regular season games,” said Keens. “The rights to the playoffs and championships are still strictly held by the major TV broadcasters.”
“Everybody is feeling their way through the right applications for VR,” said Rossini about a possible ticketed-VR game-day experience. “Anything is possible. We don’t have specific plans, but we are definitely capturing information to help decide what we’ll do next.”
TicketIQ chief executive Jesse Lawrence is concerned with VR and it’s impact on the future of live events. “VR is poised to disrupt the current event-attendance model,” he said, and he predicts ticket prices will fall. “If fans choose to watch events from the comfort of their own homes, knowing they can enjoy a front-row experience via their VR headset, this could be an industry disruptor.”
“In such a world, there’s never a sell-out and there’s always a sideline seat available at a fraction of the price of a real one,” warns Lawrence. “Companies like NextVR are already pushing toward a virtual future with unlimited supply.”
Keens disagrees. “Part of the power of VR is the ability to transport to a place,” he said. “But there is nothing like being at a live event. We’re not trying to cannibalize a live event as much as replicate it. The NBA has hundreds of thousands of fans that will never set foot inside an arena. Concerts get sold out. VR won’t change that but will supplement it.”
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