July 23rd marks a monumental day for sports fans all over the United States. This is the day sports finally return from their extended hiatus caused by the novel coronavirus. Sadly, as discussed in last week's insight, sports may be returning, but the fan-packed stadiums are still far from possible in the current conditions. While this will drastically impact the viewing experience, for the time being, one-day sports fans will be back in stadiums, rooting on their favorite teams once again. Many fans dream of the day when they get to be back in the stadium experiencing sports in the same way they once did, but Disney's most recent patent shows they may not have quite the same ambition.
In a patent granted earlier in July (U.S. Pat. No. 10713831), Disney taught a novel method to address one of the most common problems for stadium attendees: not actually being able to watch the game due to viewing obstructions like scoreboards or having to sit too high in the stadium. Their invention employs augmented reality technology to make sure no matter where a viewer ends up sitting in the stadium, they will be able to see what is happening on the field. Atop this, the patent also teaches interlaying popular television broadcast amenities, like scoreboards, stats, and the famous blue and yellow lines in football, over the display to really give the viewer the best of both worlds whenever viewing the game.
While this patent may not seem to be applicable yet, COVID conditions may cause Disney to attempt to commercialize this product as soon as possible. While no fans are in stadiums yet, the NFL is the one sports organization that has not completely ruled out the possibility of having fans in seats this season. In turn, many teams are releasing plans to attempt to accommodate fans while still maintaining social distancing in an effort to keep teams safe. For this reason, owners are contemplating reserving all lower deck seats for advertising purposes, limiting fans to upper deck seats only. While this situation would not be ideal for fans, it would present a great market opportunity for the technology Disney is pursuing. While all of this is still very in-the-air, the possibility of this happening may cause Disney to begin working in overdrive to attempt to take advantage of this unique opportunity.
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