London, England – April 16, 2011 – Wembley Stadium: Fans of Manchester City F.C. cheering on their team during the 2011 FA Cup semi-finals
(Photo by Joseph Faraoni / ESPN)
Snapchat Spectacles’ use in professional sports started with the Minnesota Wild a few weeks ago and have since made their way overseas to Manchester City, the first English Premier League club to utilize the new piece of hardware from Snap, Inc.
After receiving a pair of Spectacles from New York City FC, which Manchester City has a majority ownership of, the club started integrating the technology into its digital strategy on Dec. 3 during its match against Chelsea FC. The first-person point-of-view gave fans an inside-look of match day at Etihad Stadium, including warm ups, views from the stands and footage from the pitch. This past weekend, the club captured a 90-second Snapchat clip as it faced Arsenal in the last home match of 2016.
Besides Manchester City and the Wild, other professional teams such as the Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings and San Jose Sharks — who just used the hardware for the first time on Tuesday night — have also bought into the Spectacles’ frenzy.
The Sharks even decided to flip the social script a little, providing a fan an opportunity to wear the glasses to give others a sense of what it’s like to brush shoulders with the NHL players.
Earlier this week, the New Orleans Saints gave fans an up-close view of what it feels like to get sacked by defensive end Cameron Jordan.
