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Football fans can explore the Super Bowl stadium in VR

VCAD is bringing the Super Bowl experience to football fans' living rooms with a new VR experience that lets them explore a simulation of the stadium ahead of next month's big game.

The campaign comes from vCAD, a virtual reality company, partnering with NRG Stadium, the home of this year?s Super Bowl. The move is an attempt to cash in on the intense desire for football fans to attend the big game, using virtual reality to help make that dream come true.

?We wanted to give Super Bowl fans a personalized way to experience the stadium that only virtual reality can provide,? said Jon Huber, chief technical officer for vCAD. ?And it?s certainly a fun way to get a glimpse of what Lady Gaga will see if she performs on the roof.?

Super Bowl 51
The Super Bowl is one of the biggest annual events in American culture.

Every year, millions of people tune in to watch on TV, not just to see the game, but to see the advertisements and the performances. Every aspect of the Super Bowl has been turned into an anticipated spectacle.

This year will be no different with two incredibly popular teams, the Patriots and the Falcons, along with Lady Gaga as the half-time performance.

Routinely, tickets for the Super Bowl are incredibly hard to acquire, both logistically and financially. 


It is part of the reason that viewership is so high ? football fans would die for a chance to attend the game in person.

But when that is not the case, the world of virtual reality can provide another solution.

This year, the engineers at vCAD, a virtual reality company, have designed an interactive experience that lets users tour the NRG Stadium, where the Super Bowl will be played, through VR.

The simulation is available to anyone with the more modern models of iPhone or a Google Pixel. The simulations can be viewed using a standard Google Cardboard-style VR headset, or just by holding the phone up horizontally.

Virtual reality football
The new campaign will likely prove to be quite popular among the intersection of VR enthusiasts and football fans, especially as this year?s game looks to be just as difficult to get tickets to as previous years.

For marketers, this move provides a great lesson in balancing between servicing the customers who are able to attend a physical event or space, and those that cannot by providing them with a digital experience that can serve as a supplement or replacement for the event in question.

For example, the Nobel Museum in Dubai this year began integrating mobile virtual reality into its exhibits, in order to facilitate a deeper connection between visitors and the museum (see story).

Similarly, Fox Sports has begun broadcasting some college football games in virtual reality, offering an immersive experience that can act as a stand-in for those who are unable to attend the game in person (see story).


Smart retailers and event marketers will take a lesson from vCAD and work to create their own digital experiences that can act in a similar function.

?These models highlight the ease of use of uploading a CAD file, automatically converting it to a virtual reality format and delivering it to every smartphone over the cloud,? said Huber. ?Combined with our One-Touch Navigation®, vCAD is the ultimate tool for immersive CAD visualization.?