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: Brad Allen
Company: NextVR
Position: Executive Chairman
As Executive Chairman for NextVR, Brad Allen is primarily responsible for finance, business development and marketing for the company. He brings more than 30-plus years of experience in the investment banking and securities industries to the growing virtual reality broadcast company. His career includes working at major investment banks in both the institutional and private sectors in New York, Los Angeles and Hong Kong.
Allen has invested in multiple early stage technology companies all over the world and spent 18 years working and living in Hong Kong where he completed institutional transactions representing more than $1.5 billion in value including mergers and acquisitions and equity capital raises. In addition to his institutional activities, Allen created, funded and operated two technology startups in the e-commerce and enterprise software sectors. He also currently serves as a Venture Partner with Miramar Digital Ventures.
1) What utilization of NextVR technology in professional or college sports has recently blown you away and why?
Our camera behind the hoop in basketball is pretty transformative. It’s possible it’s the best vantage point for watching basketball, and we had no idea, because it’s not like they can sell seats 10 feet up, directly behind the basket. All this time we’ve been used to watching basketball from mid-court cameras, with the action going side to side. Now we can watch the action as its comes toward you. It gives you a much better sense of court spacing and how offenses operate. We first used it during the NBA Tip-Off game last season, and now it’s an integral part of our NBA coverage. I think people will be really blown away by watching basketball in VR like that.
2) If you had to invest in one technology (outside of virtual reality) that would alter the sports landscape, what would it be and why?
The ability to watch the game from a player’s perspective. Imagine being able to watch a live play exactly as the quarterback sees it, or watching a live basketball game from the eyes of the point guard.
3) If money were no object, what technology would you build or buy to help you do your job better?
A teleportation machine would help to reduce travel time and make it much easier to go to Asia for the day.
4) As a sports fan, what sports-related service, app, product, etc., could you not live without and why?
I’m a big fan of the ESPN app and Bleacher Report’s app. Having grown up on Long Island, I’m a big Mets and Jets fan, and I went to Villanova, home of the reigning NCAA Champion men’s basketball team. But living on the other side of the country, those apps help keep me connected and provide great local coverage of my teams everyday.
5) If you had to project 20 years into the future, how will most fans watch their favorite sports teams?
Either in virtual reality where you and your friends can roam freely throughout any live game, or with augmented reality, where we can watch the game unfold on a coffee table or even have real size holograms of the players running through the room you’re sitting in. Basically however you want to watch the game, we’ll have a live 3D stream of that information for you to configure however you please.
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?
Live virtual reality will forever change fans experience the game. The next 12 months will mark the first time where fans will be able watch live sports in VR on a consistent basis thanks to our partnership with the NBA. For those who begin watching sports this way, they’ll be hooked. I don’t think VR will replace TV by any means, but it is undoubtedly the most immersive way ever to experience sports, and it will become the de facto sports watching medium of the future. The next 12 months will be just the beginning.