It’s the weekend, and that means its time to take a look into what been happening in the intersection between the sporting world and the world of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). This week, Canadian soccer (Football to everyone outside North America), Major League Baseball and Lacrosse all have entries.
Toronto FC Introduce AR App
Canadian football (soccer) team Toronto FC have partnered with YinzCam to give fans access to a special selfie filter, presented by Coca-Cola Zero, that allows users to paint their faces in their teams colours, or logo and don a team jersey. Once a preferred combination of filters is selected, users can then share it over social media or save it to their smartphone.
“Our fans are passionate about the sport of soccer and this TFC Face Paint feature allows them to express that passion in a creative, new way,” said Neem Ba Ha, MLSE’s Director of Product Development. “But this is just the first step in our investment in augmented reality through our partnership with YinzCam. To us, AR is not just an entertainment or gamification piece. We believe AR can also be used to deliver content in new ways and even as a utility to improve the game-day experience for our fans.”
Toronto FC are planning additional AR and mobile initiatives over the coming weeks, including an opportunity to win prizes for the best Toronto FC Face Paint picture.
We are very proud of our partnership with Toronto FC and Coca-Cola to introduce this new AR experience for soccer fans in Toronto,” said Priya Narasimhan, the CEO and Founder of YinzCam. “But we are even more excited about all that is to come for MLSE and its teams, who are always looking to push the boundaries of technology and incorporate new functionality for their mobile fan base.”
MLB and Google Produce New Video Series
Major League Baseball has teamed up with Google to produce a series of VR videos featuring rising young stars in the MLB. There are currently four episodes of the series titled ‘On The Verge’ available through the MLB At Bat VR app, which is available for Google Daydream.
The various videos in the series will follow various young athletes on the field, in the clubhouse and in the batting cage to show the growing careers of Josh Bell (Pittsburgh Pirates), Mookie Betts (Boston Red Sox), Manuel Margot (San Diego Padres), and Jose Berrios (Minnesota Twins).
More On The Verge videos will be added to the At Bat app as the season progresses.
Lacrosse In 360-Degrees
Lacrosse is not a well-known sport, but it does have a reputation among those who know if it of being somewhat dangerous. Not surprising, considering is consists of throwing a solid ball around a pitch using little except a stick and a small net. It’s fast-paced, risky, rough and often very exciting while being surprisingly strategic.
Major League Lacrosse have released a series of 360-degree videos showing a full playlist of significant moments during the training sessions for various teams to show what the sport is all about.