5G connectivity is enabling exciting tech innovations and developments in everything from gaming to education, and it’s only the beginning. Sports fans in particular have a lot to look forward to as Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile have all been expanding their 5G networks to sports stadiums around the country and have been creating new immersive experiences for fans at sports games to connect with their favorite teams and players.
Many of these developments were just ramping up at the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, and the pandemic has only accelerated fan adoption of digital technology and highlighted the popularity of augmented reality activities and activations, according to Kevin Griffin, General Manager of AT&T Business Sports and Entertainment.
“Prior to the pandemic, we knew fans loved the AR/VR experiences they could experience while inside AT&T Stadium, and the past 18 months really increased the demand for these experiences that they could only get in person inside a stadium,” he says.
He notes that two key trends have emerged from the pandemic: “First, fans wanted to engage in a different, more meaningful way than ever before and second, they wanted to maintain that sense of feeling connected to the sports brands and teams they love.”
As a result, Griffin explains that AT&T made several of its AR and VR experiences available on mobile, including its digital Pose with the Pros “On the Go” activation that allows fans to take pictures with virtual versions of their favorite players, as well as AT&T Fan Zone, which lets fans at home send in cheers and reactions for a chance to be featured on the in-stadium AT&T LiveFX board during home games.
Fans attending games in person at AT&T Stadium can Pose with the Pros at 5G-powered interactive immersive columns that can be controlled directly from fans’ mobile devices, and they can also use their smartphones to view live gameday stats projected over the field with AR via the StARview feature in the Dallas Cowboys app.
“New digital experiences have enabled our sports customers to reach a wider audience of fans, stay connected to the fans they had and even reach new fans they might not otherwise reach as a result,” says Griffin. “It’s no longer about just providing sports content to fans the traditional way. Now it’s about packaging and delivering that content how fans want it, when they want it, and virtual reality is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Verizon is similarly powering new experiences for sports fans through its renewed partnership with the NFL, including 5G Multi-View, through which fans can view different camera angles, watch replays, and see AR overlays of player stats on 5G-enabled phones. Brian Mecum, Vice President of Device Technology at Verizon, adds that Verizon and the NFL launched the first 5G and mobile edge compute-enabled mobile game for fans in-stadium called NFL Ultra Toss.
“Fans with the NFL Ticketholder app received a push notification during the second quarter and were able to compete by using their smartphone to virtually toss a football into the back of a virtual pickup truck positioned in the middle of the field,” he explains. “Fans connected to 5G Ultra Wideband in the stands could point their phone’s camera to the middle of the field to see the virtual pickup truck materialize on the field using AR. Through this interactive AR experience, fans could also see the virtual football tosses happening in real-time from other fans, amping up the head-to-head competition.”
5G-enabled NFL venues will also be able to host esports events — in fact, Verizon’s LA Lab is home to the Verizon 5G Gaming Center, the first 5G esports training facility in the US. It serves as Dignitas’ West Coast headquarters and is where its League of Legends teams train. “By working together at the Verizon 5G Lab, Verizon and Dignitas are identifying and developing ways that Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband network can enhance player performance, improve recovery, and enable players to connect with fans in new innovative ways,” says Mecum.
Last year, AT&T debuted its 5G HoloVision technology during the NBA finals to enable analysts to interview players virtually when they couldn’t travel or be there in person. This technology has exciting implications not only for sports but for all different kinds of events and experiences.
“Imagine if your favorite artist was only performing in LA and you lived in NYC,” says Griffin. “5G can enable you, sitting in NYC, maybe even in your living room, to experience that performance as if you were in the front row of the venue. With the speed, lower latency, and security of 5G, the possibilities are endless, and its impact on society is only just now being realized. As the full 5G ecosystem evolves, we do expect to see not just more proof of concepts but eventually experiences that will one day be commonplace for fans.”
Mecum adds that the media and entertainment industry is already experiencing the impact of 5G, “from cutting-edge content and experiences with mixed reality, to driving operational efficiencies and cost-savings by untethering an industry traditionally reliant on endless cords to transfer large content packages.”
Fans will see the benefits of 5G through immersive experiences and additional content. Mecum presents another scenario: “At a concert, imagine fans with 5G phones could point their phone toward the stage and see additional content in AR like song lyrics or additional backup dancers. We showed at CES how the Black Pumas were able to create digital twins of themselves to put into a full-length AR music video with 5G and motion capture.”
Mecum also shares that Verizon has partnered with Live Nation to transform The Wiltern in LA into the first 5G-enabled music club — including a live multi-cam experience, a 360 degree portal experience, and a crowd management solution — and is working with Capitol Music and Motown Records at its 5G lab in LA to explore how 5G will transform the music experience.
“We’re giving recording artists advanced content production technologies to bring their creative visions to life using a 5G-powered virtual production stage, a volumetric capture studio, game engine technology, and a suite of XR production tools,” he says.
“The bottom line is that 5G is a gamechanger in that fans and consumers will have more control and more say in their experiences,” concludes Griffin. “That might be live/on demand entertainment, customized statistics for their favorite player, the use of alternate camera angles in a sports broadcast or even live bidding on the NFT of their favorite athlete or the digital media of their favorite band. 5G makes this all possible. It is an exciting time to be a technologist and an even more exciting time to be a fan!”