FEELING THE BIG GAME
The Big Game will be here next weekend! The Super Bowl is iconic for Americans… the hype, the food, the commercials, the halftime show, and of course, the football. But for those that have ocular diseases causing low or no vision, it’s not exactly the same experience we all know and love. While they can still experience all the sounds, something is missing when you can’t quite see or visualize where exactly the ball is on the field. But for the first time ever, at this Super Bowl, ten blind/low vision fans will be given the opportunity to attend the Super Bowl in Santa Clara, CA and participate in a game-changing experience provided by OneCourt.
OneCourt, a new start up company, has designed a new tactile device to follow the game more closely. This device is the size of a thicker iPad in the shape of the field with raised lines. It provides real time audio while also giving tactile feedback to allow the person to follow where the ball is on the field and vibrates in different ways based on different plays. Information sent to the device is collected from NFL NextGen Stats. Data is collected from cameras and chips embedded in the ball, jerseys, and elsewhere.
With such innovative technology, there is always an amazing connection or spark to trigger the need for it. OneCourt is no exception! The founder, Jarred Mace, was inspired after seeing a blind person attending a soccer match when he was a Junior at the University of Washington. He noticed the need for a more immersive sporting experience and has done an amazing job to try to capture just that. Feedback from those who've had a chance to experience this tech have already been extremely positive. It is incredible to see this little apparatus filling in the gaps to extend the love of the game to sighted and non-sighted alike!
“Being able to sit next to my sighted partner and enjoy a game together at the same time was incredible. It felt good that no one missed out on the game needing to explain things to me.” -OneCourt Fan
OneCourt has already partnered with the NBA and MLB and looks to continue to expand to other sports as well. Throughout this past NBA season, over 200 fans across 63 games experienced the game through tactile vibrations using the OneCourt technology. As you can imagine, this technology is not cheap, but thankfully, Ticketmaster has been funding this pilot program to make it free to fans suffering from low vision or blindness. In preparation for the Super Bowl, the NFL has been getting in on the action and teamed up with OneCourt and Ticketmaster to pilot this new technology at 15 games throughout the regular season. With this success, they have announced that ten lucky fans will be able to attend the Super Bowl in person with a OneCourt device! Talk about a one-of-a-kind experience!!
In a recent AP News article, Scott Thornhill, one of the few that will be attending the Super Bowl with this technology and pictured here, was interviewed on what he is most looking forward to with this opportunity. Scott played sports when he was young, but after being diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, he felt a part of him slowly fade along with his vision. “It will allow me to engage and enjoy the game as close as possible as people who can see,” Thornhill told The Associated Press. “As someone who grew up playing sports before I lost my vision, I’m getting a big part of my life back that I’ve been missing…” We are so happy to see Scott and several others will be able to experience the big game in a whole new light this year!
Please visit OneCourt to access this technology for you or someone you know whether at home or at a stadium!
