3D Technology in Sports

3D technology is a new technology for the sports industry. The world’s first live broadcasted sports game in 3D was come out in February 2010 in UK. In the US, a New York Rangers hockey game was the first live sports game that was broadcasted in 3D in March 2010. Lee Berke, president and CEO of LHB Sports, Entertainment & Media, mentioned “sports programming has been a key component for driving the success of virtually every new media technology over the past 90 years, from analog radio to broadcast television to cable, satellite, broadband and wireless”. However, there are a lot of issues that have to be overcome by the media industry.

          

First issue is that how many 3D TVs are sold. In 2010, only 1.1 units of 3D TV were sold in the US. This number was the half of the expectation. Therefore, most of consumers are still buying 2D TVs. The price of 3D TV might be one of the reasons that people are not buying 3D TVs. To buy a 3D TV, consumer has to spend $500 to $700 more than 2D TV. In this bad moment for the economy, it is difficult to effort to pay extra $500 to get a new technology.

           

Another issue is the 3D technology itself. This technology is still under developing. When people watch 3DTV, they are required to wear 3D glasses to enjoy 3D programs. So, they have to keep their face toward the TV screen. However, most of sports fans enjoy sports program with talking, moving their bodies, eating, and drinking. They feel 3D glasses are kind of obstacle to enjoy watching sports on TV. There are other technical issues. For example, to provide exciting 3D visions, the cameras have to be close to the field. However, those places are places for seating. So, it is difficult to steal those seats for the 3D cameras.

ESPN stated interesting reports that satisfaction of watching sports on 3D TV is only 5% more than 2D TV. So, it seems there is no benefit to see sports in 3D. On the other hand, the director of Avatar, James Cameron also said “2D to 3D could be like the move from black-and-white to color”. But he also stated that it takes five year to get popularity of 3D TVs. This year is the third year for 3D broadcasting for sports, and London Olympics will be broadcasted in 3D in this summer. Big sports events are great opportunities to sell new TVs with the cutting edge technologies. So, this Olympic Games can be the turning point of the 3D technology in sports.