My editor Abe Madkour and I were blown away by our visit to Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park. Just 30 miles south of Super Bowl City, Facebook served as a sports hub throughout the week, which came as no surprise given the social media company’s goal to become a bigger player in sports business.
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I tried out the latest virtual reality technology at Facebook’s Oculus.
Photo by: DAN SHANOFF / FACEBOOK
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International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach led a delegation to the campus on Feb. 3, and NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith brought a contingent of players later in the week. Facebook is trying to corner the market on social media sports conversations and is looking to partner with teams and leagues on ways to do that.
The first thing Abe and I — two East Coasters — noticed about the company’s headquarters was its typical Silicon Valley feel. Facebook’s headquarters has a “Main St.” that runs through campus with stores that offer a ton of free food options — from pizza and burgers to fast casual and ice cream. Facebook employees can travel around the headquarters on bikes via a bike share and can clean themselves up at the campus barbershop, too.
The best part of our visit was when we ventured over to Oculus to test the latest in virtual reality. Abe and I tried our hand at the Bullet Train VR game and, later, checked out LeBron James’ VR effort, called “Striving for Greatness.” Like just about everyone else who has tried virtual reality, we came away impressed. While VR still has some hiccups to work through, both of us expect more companies to develop VR apps/content that can be used in the sports business.
