(Courtesy of the New York Lizards)
Major League Lacrosse has announced a partnership between Lax Sports Network (LSN) and MANDT VR to offer fans a virtual reality experience using 360-degree video content.
Fans who visit the Lax Sports Network booth at LaxCon in Baltimore beginning Friday will be invited to try on a virtual reality headset to experience a faceoff against the New York Lizards’ Greg “The Beast” Gurenlian, the 2015 Major League Lacrosse MVP and a 2016 All-Star.
“We shot for a day with Greg on what the actual point of view experience is like, to be face-to-face with him in a faceoff, with the trash-talking and the intensity that only ‘The Beast’ can bring to the faceoff,” Lax Sports Network COO Rob Wallace said of the development process that included a shoot in Los Angeles.
Gurenlian is more than just a faceoff specialist. He also runs The Faceoff Academy training camp that recently launched its faceoff-related app. Major League Lacrosse had previously promoted the faceoff with GoPro, and now, it’s all about virtual reality.
“We were interested in the idea of producing a virtual reality video because a lot of our marketing efforts are grassroots and we’re on-scene at various lacrosse events around the country talking about Lax Sports Network,” Wallace said.
“In this heads-down world, where people are experiencing more and more of their content on hand-held devices, we really saw that virtual reality was another step in that digital experience that engages lacrosse fans.”
Neil Mandt, CEO of MANDT VR, spoke about the opportunity afforded by the joint enterprise with Major League Lacrosse after having previously worked on productions with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Oklahoma State on immersive sports experiences.
“This partnership will hopefully marry both worlds, virtually giving fans unprecedented access to all the action of MLL games as well as immersive behind-the-scenes peeks at favorite teams and players,” he said in a statement.
For LSN’s Rob Wallace, the next steps are absolutely compelling.
“Now that we’ve done what it’s like to experience face-offs, the possibilities become endless,” he said. “What it’s like to be the goalie taking a shot, what it’s like to be a shooter going one-on-one against a goalie, those are certainly easy next steps.
“The more compelling storyline that brings lots of possibilities for us to consider is down the road, do we look into doing a game in virtual reality?”
