Los Angeles, CA – August 13, 2016 – LA Coliseum: Dez Bryant (88) of the Dallas Cowboys during a regular preseason game (Photo by Scott Clarke / ESPN Images)
In the final weeks of the 2016 season, the NFL will continue its journey into the land of virtual reality, one it has already dabbled in throughout the year.
The NFL and VOKE — a virtual reality company which has doubled down on its immersive sports content after recently being acquired by Intel — announced on Friday a collaboration to create virtual reality highlights packages for fans around four upcoming games.
VOKE will work in tandem with NFL Films to produce the content, which will include in-game and postgame highlights with on-site commentary. The first game package as part of the new partnership will be this Sunday as the Jacksonville Jaguars host the Denver Broncos.
“We are committed to building unprecedented user experiences and completely changing the way fans engage around live events,” VOKE Co-Founder Sankar Jayaram said in a statement. “The popularity and passion for the NFL is global and fans want to be a part of it. Through the power of our technology we are able to provide fans with the most personalized, immersive experiences from anywhere in the world.”
If this virtual reality broadcast sounds familiar, it’s because the NFL partnered with NextVR last month for a similar experiment that saw VR highlights from three games released. On its face, it looks as though the NFL is testing a few different partners before it dives head first into virtual reality, perhaps along the lines of what the NBA is currently doing this year on NBA LEAGUE PASS.
“Virtual reality has the potential to bring a unique perspective to our fans to complement the different ways they currently enjoy the game today. We look forward to working with VOKE as we continue to experiment and create new experiences in this emerging medium,” William Deng, Director, Media Strategy and Business Development at the NFL, said in a statement.
Over the past two years, VOKE has been one of the more active virtual reality players across sports. Just three weeks ago, it partnered with the Big Ten Network to produce the network’s first college football game live in virtual reality.
In 2015, the Silicon Valley, Calif.-based company also collaborated with the Sacramento Kings, which is an investor in VOKE, for last season’s home opener at Sleep Train Arena. The Kings became the first professional sports team to independently stream a regular season game in virtual reality. In October, it opened its doors to the new Golden 1 Center with virtual reality streaming, too.
It’s clear from the recent activity and aforementioned Intel acquisition that VOKE will be part of the live virtual reality discussion with the NFL, when and if those conversations ever occur, to broadcast regular season games.
Below are the additional three virtual reality broadcasts between NFL Films and VOKE
Dec. 11: New Orleans Saints at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Dec. 18: Jacksonville Jaguars at Houston Texans
Jan. 1: Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles
