British media company BT Sport and virtual reality platform company LiveLike broadcast a heavyweight Premier League soccer matchup between Chelsea and Arsenal in VR on Saturday.
BT Sport filmed the 3-0 Arsenal victory using VR Cameras and worked with LiveLike to offer the immersive viewing experience to customers at four of its EE London locations.
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Using headsets and tablets provided on site at EE locations, customers had the ability to take in the match from four different perspectives. Wearers of the VR gear could also watch the match as if they were sitting on the sidelines, or in the grandstands, according to BT Sport.
“We hope fans enjoy experiencing all the highs and lows of a football match via Virtual Reality,” Jamie Hindhaugh, COO of BT Sport, said in a statement. “Fans and viewers are at the heart of our coverage and this is a great opportunity to experience this innovative new technology.”
In May, SportTechie covered an event where LiveLike partnered with BT Sport competitor Sky Sports to broadcast another Premier League matchup in VR. The match between Manchester City FC and Arsenal was the first ever Premier League matchup to be broadcast in VR.
LiveLike recently made headlines in the U.S. as well when it partnered with Fox Sports to broadcast a college football matchup between Ohio State and Oklahoma. Fox Sports’ new VR app made access to VR content available to 95 million households. The gridiron matchup was the most widely available live VR sporting event to date.
After partnering with two major media players in the U.K. and Fox Sports in the U.S., LiveLike appears to be a front runner to facilitate other major VR sports productions in the future.
“LiveLike is focused on creating an atmosphere that allows fans to feel like they are in heart of the action while having everything they would possibly want around them, Miheer Walavalkar, Chief Business Officer of LiveLike, said in a statement.