ESPN 3D

Source: Wired

The 3D World Cup broadcasts spread out the over past couple of weeks were only the beggining of a much larger 3D push into the wide world of sports.

And now the biggest name in sports, ESPN, has made a year long commitment to this booming technology by starting its very own 3D production unit. Expect to see various 3D sports events over the coming months.

Initially the events featured will be ones that will be easier to shoot in 3D, such as golf and baseball (The Home Run Derby was already shot using 3D cameras) but if these are successful expect more variety soon.

If you are wondering how serious ESPN is about its new 3D mission just look at the camera setup for just the initial 3D Home Run Derby broadcast:

• One 3D camera suspended behind the pitchers mound 15 feet in the air.
• Dual 3D rigs, set up 5 feet away on both sides of of the batters box.

That is a lot of new hardware, and it should make for a very unique viewing experience. I feel if 3D can be at home anywhere, it would be in sports. I would love the rush of sitting on my couch staring down a pitcher who is about to throw a 102 mph pitch right into my living room, I would probably flinch like a little girl and that would be awesome.

There are some obvious limitations to ESPNs ambitions 3D programming as most viewers do not yet have the new 3D TVs, but ESPN VP Anthony Baily has a simple game plan to combat that initial problem, "The more 3-D content we give the viewers, the more people will want to watch it."

I am inclined to agree with that logic.