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: John Studdert
Company: Sony
Position: Vice President, Sales and Marketing
As Vice President and General Manager for Sony’s broadcast, production and sports business, John Studdert is responsible for sales, marketing and P&L. Through close engagement with industry leaders, Studdert’s team has been able to lead Sony to a No. 1 position in all three business segments. A graduate of Iona College’s Hagan School of Business (MBA), his goal is to broaden Sony’s market share by bringing innovative solutions that allow Sony customers to improve the quality of their production in the most efficient way.
1) What utilization of technology in professional or college sports has recently blown you away and why?
For me as a fan and taking it from that perspective, the technology that has really captured my attention are the tools that have allowed the broadcasters to keep the integrity of the game in place. What I mean by that is, for example, Sony is the whole owner of Hawk-Eye products and technology. You’re probably familiar with the technology for electronic line calling in tennis but a lot of people don’t know that when a baseball manager challenges a play and the manager buzzes the guys in the booth, they have a look through a Hawk-Eye system. Immediately they’re able to take a look at all of the camera angles and determine what the play is.
Those challenges are usually successful because they’ve already seen it in close to real-time. That is great for fans because they know the right call is being made and the determination of the game wasn’t because of a bad call. Let’s go back to the early 2000s and most certainly in the 1990s and 1980s, how many games were determined by bad calls? Hawk-Eye allows you to aggregate some of the different angles on the field and zoom in without the picture being pixelated or without motion blur. You can see the definitive angle whether the player was safe or not, whether they were in bounds or out of bounds.
2) If you had to invest in one technology that would alter the sports landscape, what would it be and why?
When you think about it, sports is a true reality show. I think directors have done a great job of telling the stories better. From a Sony perspective and products we’ve brought to market over the last couple of years and going forward, we’re giving them the tools to create more drama or find the drama in the story that they’re telling.
3) If money were no object, what technology would you build or buy to help you do your job better?
We’re always searching for what’s going to further engage the fan. If money were no object and I have no idea how we would even do this, but anything that would allow us to get real emotional data back from how well we’re engaging the fan and what technologies are impactful to them. That would allow us to make the improvements in our products to better the overall storytelling or fan engagement. That is the single thing we’re always looking for — what can we bring to the sports networks that will allow them to improve the overall production and storytelling?
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4) As a sports fan, what sports-related service, app, product, etc., could you not live without and why?
It comes right down to fantasy football and fantasy sports in general for me. I don’t think I could live without the real-time data and all of the apps that give me instant access to the league that I’m in. … No matter where I am, I can still track what’s going on.
5) If you had to project 20 years into the future, how will most fans watch their favorite sports teams and/or how will games be produced?
I don’t know how far virtual reality can go. If we’re looking at 20 years and you’re listening to the announcer and you hear, ‘That was a vicious hit on Eli Manning.’ And they go back to the replay and they’re able to show it. If you’re able to actually be put in the place of Eli Manning while that’s going on, just think about that for a second. If you can see exactly what he saw — and yes, we’re talking 20 years out — I suspect with super computing chips and everything else, this may be possible. Think about how great it would be to be in the shotgun and looking at the defensive formation he is looking it and what it really means to have 2.3 seconds to throw the ball. I think that would be a really cool experience.
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?
I think this one for me is not so bold, but it’s obvious for people who have had the ability to see 4K HDR or even HD HDR. It is meaningful the difference between the picture we see today, the increased color space, the increased dynamic range of HDR really does change what you’re seeing dramatically. If you take Cowboys Stadium for an afternoon game and the shadows are shifting and you apply HD HDR to that, it really does change the experience. I won’t say it’s as big as going from SD 4:3 to HD 16:9 but I would say it’s darn close to that dramatic of a difference. You see colors you have never seen before. You see angling of the shadows where the picture doesn’t get washed out. … Whether it’s the linear broadcasters or the OTT companies, they’re both embracing HDR and working with the consumer world, which now all of the TVs are supportive of HDR. Once they work out the standards and the delivery side of it, the production side is ready to go. I know in my experience of working with all of the networks and OTT companies, they’re rolling this out in a hurry. I think this is coming and it’s going to be very impactful.