Microsoft Looks to Future HoloLens Consumer Experiences with the NFL

While HoloLens will roll out only in limited form to vertical markets at first, Microsoft is naturally looking to a future of broader consumer applications as well. And this week it came up with a vision of what it could be like to use HoloLens to enjoy NFL football games in the future.

The HoloLens/NFL tie-up was introduced at a Super Bowl 50 panel discussion today in San Francisco. I was invited to this event, but couldn’t justify the travel expenses, so Microsoft was nice enough to brief me ahead of time. Here’s what I learned.

This is a concept, not a plan. A video showing how HoloLens could be used in the future is just a concept. It displays HoloLens capabilities that exceed those of the first unit, for example, and represents some ideas that both Microsoft and the NFL have at the moment.

A TV display that expands beyond the edges of your set. You may recall that Microsoft originally intended to include a technology with Xbox One that would project the game graphics onto the wall around your HDTV, providing a more interactive and bigger display. In the video, HoloLens accomplishes this for NFL games, in real time.

Stats, replays and more. Regardless of how it’s displayed—on the wall, on the tablet, whatever—this secondary display can also be used to provide other in-game information, while the game is happening.

Some of the concepts are a bit more fanciful than others, but I appreciate that Microsoft is finally incorporating how the HoloLens field of view will impact the experience into some of its demos. (But not all.) Maybe they are listening. 🙂

Here’s the video.