The following interview is part of our ongoing Expert Series that asks C-level professionals, team presidents, league executives, athletic directors and other sports influencers about their latest thoughts and insights on new technologies impacting the sports industry.
Name: Miheer Walavalkar
Company: LiveLike
Position: Chief Business Officer/Co-Founder
Miheer Walavalkar is the Chief Business Officer and Co-Founder of LiveLike, a virtual reality company that delivers content for major sports broadcasters. Walavalkar has led the charge from a business development standpoint as he has locked in partnerships with FOX Sports and Sky Sports for various broadcasts over the past 18 months. He played a crucial role in LiveLike winning TechCrunch and the NFL’s “1st and Future” startup competition last February, too.
Prior to joining LiveLike, Walavalkar served as Chief Business Officer and later Chief Executive Officer of YouFoot, which is a UK-based tech startup that worked with soccer federations and teams around the globe. He holds a Masters in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.
1) What utilization of LiveLike’s virtual reality platform in professional or college sports has recently blown you away?
Off all the things we’ve built, our most recent broadcast of the MLS Cup in Toronto really blew me away. It was our first outside sponsorship (with Audi!), and it made me start to think of all the amazing developments we’ve seen in sports over the last year. I’m really excited for the work we can do with brands — where consumers can actually interact with their products.
We also debuted a ton of new features that we’ve been building internally for a long time. The biggest of which is VR’s first “DVR,” where we let viewers rewind the game in 30 second increments, so they can rewatch the best moments from the angle of their choice.
And, I don’t want to brag, but getting praise from international soccer stars like Allie Long is pretty amazing, too.
The @FOXSports VR app is so cool. I watched the Penalties from behind the goal all the way from London. Goood night.
— Allie Long (@ALLIE_LONG) December 11, 2016
2) If you had to invest in one technology that would alter the sports landscape, what would it be and why?
I really want to be able to see games from an athlete’s eyes. I can’t dunk, but it would be awesome to see what Russell Westbrook sees above the rim, or see what Aaron Rodgers is going through as he moves through the pocket. These people are borderline super humans. We’ve all done the thing in the driveway where we pretend we’re Jordan. Imagine seeing the game (or the dunk contest!) from his eyes!
3) If money were no object, what technology would you build or buy to help you do your job better?
This might sound odd…but I want an amazing AI personal assistant. I spend about three weeks per month on the road, and keeping track of meetings, time zones, locations and more is just tough. And these are important meetings! A few weeks back I saw Mark Zuckerberg’s Jarvis AI and went “Woah, I need that.” I’ll definitely be paying close attention.
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4) As a sports fan, what sports-related service, app, product, etc., could you not live without and why?
Since I spend so much time on the road, and with a lot of that being international, there’s just no way I could keep track of my teams without streaming services, play-by-play trackers, lots of stats. Even more, I can’t always stay up until 3 AM to watch a game — so when I can find a replay online, it’s even better. Then, I can watch games at my leisure and not miss out.
5) If you had to project 20 years into the future, how will most fans watch their favorite sports teams?
In twenty years? I hope we can beam ourselves into stadiums like Star Trek! I’m kidding, but with the way sports pushes media — it was responsible for the rise of HD, 4K, internet streaming, and more — I think we’ll see huge leaps in our viewing habits. I know I’m biased as a LiveLike Co-Founder, but I truly believe the next big thing for sports fans is some form and combination of virtual, augmented and mixed reality.
Truth be told, we’re only in Version 0.1 of all of this technology right now and even at this early stage, it’s mind blowing to see what’s being done. As we continue to advance, we’ll see huge leaps in form factor — we will get that Star Trek-like experience. We’ll all be beamed into rooms virtually, in photo-realistic avatars, and look, talk and hang out with friends just like we would in the “real world.” I can’t wait!
6) Give us your bold prediction about a form of technology that will be integral to sports in general over the next 12 months and why?
Moneyball may have taken over the last decade plus of Major League Baseball, but technology is enabling us to take this even further. We’re getting closer to being able to tag, track and monitor every square inch of any court, stadium, etc. and learn truly predictive things about sports. Simulated action is getting closer and closer to reality, where teams can use predictive models to game plan their opponents. RFID chips inside of balls let us understand how we can improve our game — from putting more arc on a basketball like Steph Curry to the velocity off the bat.
That’s a lot, so if I had to stake this prediction on anything, I’d say we’re going to see a ton of advancements in how we track, monitor and use data. As sports become bigger and bigger business, teams are making massive investments in players, and they want to protect them as much as possible. From tracking things like hydration to wear and tear on the body, we’ll see coaches and teams deploy new practice habits, game plans and more.