Fox Sports, Intel To Intro ‘Be The Player’ 360 POV Replay System at Super Bowl LI

Fox Sports is looking to transport viewers onto the field like never before during its Super Bowl LI coverage next month in Houston. Using Intel technology, the Fox Sports Lab plans to introduce a “Be The Player” enhancement, a feature that displays a POV perspective for any player on the field without a physical camera attached to the player. The first-of-its kind replay technology will provide viewers a unique field-of-vision perspective from the player’s point of view during the play. 

“From the beginning, seeing and breaking down the play from the player’s point of view is the undiscovered country of sports broadcasting,” Davies adds. This broadcast enhancement is like no other: it brings the audience down to the viewpoint of the player at the critical decision-making moment. What other choices did he have? Was his sight blocked? It all looks much different from field level and can assist our announcers in describing what actually happened on the field.”

CLICK HERE for an in-game demo of the technology.

The POV Factor: Kicking Intel 360 Up a Notch 
Be The Player will leverage the Intel 360 Replay system that has been deployed at a variety of major sports events: U.S. Open golf; MLB All-Star Game; NBA All-Star Game, Conference Finals, and Final; Super Bowl 50; the Rio Olympics, and a multitude of primetime NFL games.
The system will use an array of 38 5K cameras throughout the stadium to create a 3D space that allows replays to spin around the field and zoom in or out of key action during the play.

“We tasked Intel to push their amazing Intel 360 Replay technology to the limit of what it could do, using their array of cameras circling the stadium to synthesize a player’s view on the field,” says Michael Davies, SVP, field and technical operations, Fox Sports. “The cameras, backed up by a huge bank of Intel computing power, allow a moment to be re-created in 3D space, so that a ‘virtual camera’ can be placed at the player’s eye line — not unlike how limitless camera views can be created in videogames.”

According to the Associated Press, Intel has already installed 38 5K-resolution cameras in a perimeter inside NRG Stadium connected by 5 miles of fiber to the Intel control room, which houses a half dozen Intel producers. These producers will work with a Fox Sports producer inside the truck to select 360 replays to be integrated into the telecast. CLICK HERE for an in-depth look at the Intel 360 workflow at last year’s MLB All-Star Game in San Diego.

Fox Sports’ Super Bowl LI production effort will include more high-speed and 4K cameras than ever and will deploy three production trucks and more than 30 cameras to deliver more than 20 hours of programming a day from Discovery Green in Houston, in addition to 70-plus cameras at NRG Stadium covering the game.

“We, as broadcasters, are always trying to provide the viewer with something they’ve never seen before,” says Zac Fields, SVP, graphic technology and innovation, Fox Sports. “With this new Be The Player technology, it is now achievable, and we are incredibly excited to debut this at the Super Bowl.”

Fox Sports Lab, a designed approach to exploring technical partnerships that give viewers a fresh perspective and ad-sales teams more-targeted sports integrations, had a busy year in 2016. It used aerial production drones at the U.S. Open Championship and teamed with a pair of industry-leading virtual-reality companies to deliver a VR broadcast of more than a dozen major sports events, including the Daytona 500, a Premier Boxing Champions title fight, the Big East, the U.S. Open Championship, Men’s Basketball Tournament, the Bundesliga season opener, and multiple college football games — each effort advancing the rapidly evolving technology. In addition, Fox Sports teamed with GoPro in November to offer a first-ever POV camera feed from the hat of referees working the Big Ten Championship Game.

Check out sportsvideo.org in the coming days for more in-depth coverage on this story.