Get ready to watch the Miami Hurricanes in Virtual Reality
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Yesterday, EON Sports VR, a virtual reality sports training and fan experience company, announced its partnership with the University of Miami to bring college sports’ first VR channel to Hurricanes fans.
Virtual reality has been making splashes across the sporting industry recently. From the Home Run Derby, to the Olympics and even playing a role in coaxing former Oklahoma City Thunder forward, Kevin Durant, to join the Golden State Warriors.
The new Miami channel hopes to give fans an immersive, behind-the-scenes experience via a completely customized VR experience that will include practices, scrimmages, huddles and interviews.
“We’re thrilled to partner with the University of Miami and commend them for taking a bold step in utilizing virtual reality to improve the fan experience,” Brendan Reilly, CEO and founder of EON Sports VR, said in a statement. “Professional and student-athletes have used our technology to improve their performance on the field and we are excited to bring that same mindset of fans.”
Miami plans on unveiling the VR technology to fans in early October. At a price point of $29.95, the UM-branded VR headset is an affordable option to watch the coverage of men’s and women’s sports.
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“We’re incredibly excited to be working with EON Sports to put this virtual reality channel together. At the University of Miami, we strive to be on the cutting edge of digital, video, social, and web technologies and EON and their team have helped immensely in that endeavor,” Jason Layton, Miami senior associate athletic director for communications and sales, said in a statement. “After an investment in broadcast and video production, we wanted to expand into other ventures, including 360-degree video and we’re able to do that with this immersive product. As we look forward to an October launch, we’re excited to show off what our team has been working on in conjunction with EON Sports.”
Obviously the most appealing part about VR for the average user is the ability to feel like you are “in the action.” Multiple professional greats in the sporting world have come out of Miami. With VR, the experience of being a student or fan and witnessing your collegiate team from a closer and more realistic perspective is incredibly appealing.
As virtual reality continues to expand in the sports industry, the Miami will now be an interesting story for other teams to monitor.