Sports of the Future

Read any interesting article on the Toronto Star today regarding the future of professional spectator sports. It outlines a theory of Dr. Robert Brown, who foresees a move away from crowds of middle class spectators attending live sporting events due to a terrorist type attack which will targets the large stadium crowds.

I don’t foresee this as being a possibility – a “precipitating event” seems like too easy of an answer for what the future of sports might look like., especially in this often fearful post 9/11 world.  With the increase of ticket prices, and the brand new crop of upscale stadiums it seems that the demand for these tickets will only increase in the foreseeable future.

Sure,  an attack of this magnitude would effect the crowds at sporting events the short term, but think about  how society as a whole got back to ‘business as usual’ in the aftermath of 9/11. It was a  terrible, devastating attack but it did not stop people from going to the targets of the attack – New York City or large public/office buildings.  It would take something very far reaching (world wide?) and devastating to affect the deeply ingrained love of sports of an average person on a permanent basis.  There is a emotional, almost primal need for  fans to gather in groups to share their excitement and common interest in the sports/teams.

Overall, although the games and rules might change based on technology and state of society- think of the zero-gravity Battle School of Ender’s Game, or perhaps the high flying antics of Harry Potter’s Quidditch –  I simply can’t foresee our culture getting away from our attachment of seeing and being seen at sporting events.

I  think that if anything, the stadiums in the future are going to be bigger and better in order to maximize the amount of revenue that can be generated .  Even today,  there are a number of NFL teams who could almost sell as many seats as they wanted if they could do it at a reasonable price, and ensure a positive viewing experience for the fans.  If they were able to build stadiums of 250,000 plus seats, many of these teams could leverage the crowd for a real ‘home field advantage.

Rather that partaking in virtual reality at home ala video games to enjoy sports at home like the article outlines, I see professional sports leveraging technology to  allow for in seat virtual reality to allow the viewer to see what they want, from where they want –  by almost being their own television director with any angle your heart desired. This would allow them to see all the action, and share the experience with others as well.

Please post your thoughts on the future of the specetator experience.