Fox paid $450 million to $500 million for the rights to the 2018 and 2022 soccer tournaments, snatching them from ESPN -- which had paid just $100 million for the 2010 and 2014 events.
LAS VEGAS — Soccer fans watching the FIFA World Cup in Brazil’s stadiums this summer could have their experiences augmented by real-time player stats and even video delivered to Sony Smart Eyeglasses. What’s more, the glasses could record video and stream it live to the web for what Sony is calling “Social Live,” bringing up the possibility of being able to view a goal highlight from multiple points of view.
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Hiroshi Mukawa, a lead engineer on the project, told The Hollywood Reporter that the only thing holding them back from the trial was the potentially limited wireless communications infrastructure in Brazil.
“We would like to do it, but we are still deciding,” he said at the International CES. “We could send and receive data via Bluetooth, but if we want to share video, then we need wireless, and the issue is whether local connectivity is strong enough.”
He added: “We see real potential for this technology in stadiums.”
Sony’s Smart Eyeglass, of which the in-stadium application is one of many, is a direct competitor to Google Glass.
The Sony eyewear prototype houses two small LED projectors that emit data onto a holographic strip in both lenses of the glass. A second version, already built in Sony labs and ready to test, will feature a camera, as well as a player-tracking function to map specific data onto athletes.
The lenses are just 1mm thick, and the illumination of information from the holographic strip is 1000 cd/m2, which is bright enough to withstand daylight viewing, Sony said. The information appears in line of sight and is 90 percent transparent, which, Sony said, makes direct eye contact much easier.
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There is no word on commercial availability of either products, but the second version of Sony’s glass will be packaged in many colors and be a lighter design.
Sony’s Smart Eyeglass demonstration at CES was based around an indoor viewing experience. A clip from last summer’s FIFA Confederations Cup, captured by two 4K F55 cameras, was projected onto a 32-by-9 meter display. Statistics about the game could be seen overlaid on the game via the glasses.
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