Indiana University Athletics will become a national leader in 3D broadcast and technology with its first of its kind video, broadcasting and technology center for its students. All thanks to a donation of $5 million from 1981 alumni, Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and several other businesses. The Mark Cuban Center for Sports Media Technology will be housed in the west side of the new Assembly Hall and will open in spring 2017.
“Mark Cuban’s name is synonymous with innovation, technology, media and sports,” Director of Athletics Fred Glass said. “I cannot imagine a person better suited to be the namesake for, and godfather of, our Center for Sports Media and Technology. His extremely generous gift is transformative and will make Indiana University Athletics America’s elite institution in this field. Go IU, and go class of 1981!”
This new sports technology program will be like no other. It will be centered on 3D broadcast and replay, virtual reality, and 3D virtual studio technologies. According to an announcement from the school, the center will allow students to produce “virtual-reality videos for fan experience, athlete instruction, recruiting videos and social media, as well as video-board displays, team-specific shows and live event broadcasts for all 24 IU sports.” One notable tool available to students is the “freeD” technology. Cameras will be installed at Assembly Hall and Memorial Stadium, providing unlimited camera angles that will allow not only shots above the players, but even in-between them.
While all of this state-of-the-art equipment and technology will make Indiana University the number one collegiate athletics program in the country, it will have an even bigger impact on the sports technology industry in the future, something Mark Cuban is well aware of.
“I am so excited to work with Indiana University to bring us into the future of sports media, broadcasting and analytics,” Cuban said.
The sports technology program will go beyond athletics and create partnerships with other academic programs on campus. The program intends to provide students opportunities in different media technology disciplines by creating jobs and/or curriculum to support the center, and has already gained support from The Media School, IU Radio TV Services, the School of Informatics and the Advanced Visualization Lab. Through professional expertise, Cuban has already helped shape the mission and technologies to be used in the center. He will also provide continued direction to the program.
Indiana University will ultimately produce highly sought-after individuals from major actors in the sports technology industry. With cutting-edge technology and equipment at their fingertips, and the ability to produce high quality professional content, this next-gen of aptly-skilled media and digital technology recruits may just take the sports industry to another level.
