The athletic department unveiled something new and cutting-edge on Wednesday: Canes VR.
The result of a partnership with EON Sports VR, Canes VR is a virtual reality channel that will feature content from all UM sports. Fans will get the experience of feeling like they are actually at practices or right next to the student-athletes during interviews.
“We were approached by EON Sports VR,” Assistant Director of Digital Strategy Tim Brogdon said. “We were taken aback because we didn’t really know that [virtual reality] was becoming a big thing or how we would go about it.”
Since talks began in March 2016, virtual reality technology has advanced so greatly that the athletic department is able to produce content in-house.
“We’ve purchased two Samsung Gear 360 video cameras,” Brogdon said. “We can take that video directly from the camera, put it on a Samsung phone, and it will automatically stitch all of the video together. We can take [the video] and edit it in Adobe Premiere, and when we’re ready, we just upload it to the server, and it goes live.”
Although the video posted to the app will be previously recorded, the athletic department could post live content in the future.
“EON has stated that they do have the capability to do live 360 video, which is something we need to work out due to our rights,” Brogdon said. “We just need to be careful how we do it, but it’s definitely something we’re thinking about utilizing in the future.”
To tie in social media, the athletic department will tease the virtual reality content as 360-degree videos on Facebook. Brogdon said that the videos posted on Facebook would be part of the marketing strategy for the headset.
Fans can purchase the Canes VR app code and the exclusive Sebastian VR headset. Those who already have Google Cardboard can purchase the code only and have the same experience. The code is $20 for season ticket holders and $30 for the public.
To pre-order, visit https://ev11.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventInfo?ticketCode=GS%3AMIAMI%3ASE16%3AVRB%3A&linkID=miami&shopperContext=&pc=&caller=&appCode=&groupCode=VR&cgc=&RSRC=adobe&RDAT=VRpublic.
Shipping is expected to begin next month.
Feature image courtesy Pixabay user paologhedini