… ESPN.com style. The sports giant is currently doing a series on the future of sports, circa 2015. They enlisted a number of “experts” to predict the future of fandom,
gadgetry and athletes. Among the projections (purposefully leaving out the ideas by Watts Wacker, futurist):
* Demand for surround-view home systems
* Pay-per home field advantage — call in your cheers to the stadium
* Cheer for Points — sounds like the CHI 2004 student design project
* Pay for Play — professional fantasy league players
* Fantasy Sponsorship — team names in high-profile leagues can be bought
* Conductive blankets — feel the physical sensations a player feels
* Autograph meter — use cell phone to determine if player will sign
* Smart Gear — readouts in the helmet to show player positioning (sure!)
* Instant Play — conductive velcro makes out/safe calls
* Voice-Activated Video Games — call plays in Madden 2015 … Literally
* Dynamic Stadium Ads — one ad at a time, stadium-wide
* T-Commerce — touch items on a televised player to order
* Corporate Names — soccer star Freddy Adu becomes known as Google
Several of these ideas are either too far beyond 2015 (see Wacker’s idea for hairspray that allows you to mentally project the score of your choice) or have deep social ramifications for fans and the nature of the game itself (see Gene Doping and Exoskeleton).
Ultimately, I would hope that by 2015—when ESPN.com repeats this for Sports in 2025—it is IU’s Sports Informatics program that will be called on to contribute ideas.
See also:
* 2015 10th Anniversary (Flash)
* Calling ’em like everybody else sees ’em in 2015 by Jeff Merron and Darren Rovell
* The future stadium: One-stop shopping by Darren Rovell
