Digital Avatars to Replace Audiences at Sporting Events
Have you heard about the plan for digital avatars to replace audiences at sporting events across the United States and beyond? With the coronavirus pandemic situation being what it is, professional sports leagues have been forced to pivot from their traditional game model of teams playing in front of thousands of avid fans. Leagues such as the NBA, MLB, EPL, MLS, and more have adapted the stadium and also the fan experience to try and mitigate the impact of social distancing.
Professional Sports and Social Distancing
Many sports leagues are using video footage of people in the ‘audience’ while their games are being played. MLB teams such as the LA Dodgers, infamously, use cutouts of team fans in their empty stadiums. Another solution exists, though: augmented reality, making use of advances in avatar technology and 3D modelling. What if the leagues replaced potted footage of people watching the game with, instead, digital avatars? Several leagues seem to be pivoting to this kind of a solution. The NBA is collaborating with Microsoft Teams to create a solution where a fan’s image is segmented and their head and shoulders superimposed over a seat in the stands. While this is a step forward from uncanny cardboard cutouts, it is still less than ideal, and there are many places that technology can go with the tools already at its disposal.
Avatar Technology and Live Sports Games
Video games such as Animal Crossing and apps such as Genies have been perfecting the art of creating fun, individual, expressive avatars for exploring their virtual worlds. Now, however, might be the perfect time for them to cross into the real world and give sports fans a way of conveying their excitement, support, and enjoyment in real time while they stay at home. Fully animated avatars can be projected into the stands for a camera to pick up while live streaming sports footage, so that fans can emote in response to their team’s plays, respond to other fans’ passion, and create a more engaging atmosphere for both themselves and the watching fans. Genies is one company well situated to contact sports leagues about an enterprise such as this: Genies has strong ties with players from many of the United States’ biggest leagues. Is this notion the way forward for a compromise between fan engagement and health and safety of stadium staff and teams? With the NCAA season underway, and the NFL season due to start, this could be a big step forward for both leagues.
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