When’s the last time you saw something so amazing your jaw dropped? Professional sports teams have begun creating jaw-dropping experiences prior to the game even starting. With the help of new image mapping technology, fans are getting pumped up for the game like never before.
District of Columbia-based Quince Imaging added their state of the art technology to NBA and NHL arenas this season. The Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers, and Atlanta Hawks have purchased these projection systems to enhance the fan experience during both the pre-game and post-game on court entertainment shows.
“It was wildly successful to say the least,” said Cavalier’s Chief Marketing Officer, Tracy Marek. She also added that a video of the 3D projection received more than 2 million views on the Cavaliers’ website and was even aired on the Today Show.
“We got an enormous amount of great feedback about the capability so when we started to roll into the season, of course we remembered that. We decided to purchase the system so we could use it more regularly.”
Comprised of 16 HD projectors, the system creates an incredible pixel space of 3600×1878. Using new versions of Pandora’s Box and Warper software, video content is aligned to logos and other graphical elements of the team’s playing surface. As a result, the floor becomes an immersive video environment that can display images, videos, and can even make it seem like the floor shatters, swallowed up by the earth.
“The reason it works and the major determination for success is that it has to be an image design done that is both bright enough and high resolution enough so that you can animate the surface,” said Scott Williams, the Chief Operating Officer of Quince Imaging.
“It’s physics, really. You have to be bright enough, you have to be high resolution enough and then the second part of that, you have to have content that forces the viewer to be, essentially, faked.”
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With technology this impressive, an equally impressive price tag comes with it. At just over $1 million per system, teams are betting big on the value of creating a unique fan experience.
“Quince technology is the game changer — the sliced bread, color TV, microwave, DVR, WiFi, and Angry Birds equivalent of game entertainment; and we are glad to be showcasing it in two arenas across two sports within two weeks of each other,” said Scott O’Neil, Chief Executive Officer of the 76ers and Devils at the Prudential Center.
Expect more NBA and NHL teams to add these imaging systems over the coming years. The success and popularity is likely to lead the MLB and NFL to also find ways to integrate similar technology into their game experiences.
Where do you think we will see it next?