Victor Cruz: Live Virtual Reality Can Improve NFL Fans’ Experience

Victor Cruz once used to catch passes from Eli Manning and turn them into touchdowns. Now without an NFL team, Cruz thinks it would be really neat to get back on the field — in virtual reality.

“I think just me, from a fan perspective, if I’m able to put on a headset, the VR headset, and be at the 50-yard line to watch Eli Manning, for lack of better teams, at the 30 and I’m behind him and I can see the entire (play)—in real-time—that’s a game changer,” Cruz said at Advertising Week-New York last week on a panel about how mobile and data are influencing the future of sports.

The use of virtual reality in the NFL is not as widespread as it is in other sports, and live VR is not yet available. But NextVR has delivered highlights for the NFL, and Intel has introduced immersive video technology that capture the game in 360 degrees.

In April, Intel and the NFL partnered to install Intel’s FreeD highlight system in eight additional NFL stadiums to bring the total to 11. Intel uses 38 5K cameras to capture touchdowns and highlight-reel plays in 360 degrees, enabling fans to see the game from that perspective and even the player’s POV. The immersive videos, which are created in the stadium by an Intel production team, are viewable and shareable on NFL.com, the NFL mobile app, YouTube, and team websites; they are also shown on stadium video boards.

Intel’s technology is the closest approximation to watching games in live VR, but Cruz thinks that the NFL and technology partners should fully embrace virtual reality as a way to keep fans engaged and closer than ever to their teams.

“And to figure out how to make that a communal thing with your family at home, how to make that happen for everyone at a bar, or just an experience on how people watch the game and be there live, really feel the game,” Cruz said. “Not just watch it and not just look at it on a screen, but really hear it and feel like they’re standing right next to the running back, I think that’s a game changer.”

Cruz also thinks that Instagram Live has been instrumental in fan engagement because fans can flock to athletes who are streaming live on Instagram on the corner of a New York street or at a walk-up burger joint.

“To be able to be somewhere live and stream it, and everyone can tune into your live channel and see where you are, and pretty much walk up to you if they’re a block away or two blocks away, I think that’s also a game-changer,” Cruz said. “You can set up live concerts from your Instagram Live, or whatever that branches out and becomes on a bigger platform, but you can do anything you want on your own channel.”

Wherever the NFL goes with virtual reality and increasingly new fan experiences, expect Cruz to be at the forefront of using, and talking about, the next game-changing technologies.