Last year, the NFL's undertakings focused on VR streaming of on-demand content such as postgame footage and what the league called the first original series in VR. Streaming live games however would be something of a different beast for the league.

The content capture devices, such as VR cameras from Voke, which was bought by Intel last year, and NextVR have already shot live sports action for streaming. It's how that precious payload is delivered to fans that has received little public attention

Testing...

"Live football presents very different challenges from other sports when it comes to a live VR production so we'll continue to test until we feel we have a quality product for our fans," the spokesperson added.

One league source predicted VR streaming of live games is years away, unless a VR company or network paid a huge sum of money for the right to deliver a live NFL football game.

….and "Experiments"

While the present is full of talk and marketing opportunities, the NFL has taken what appears to be a more measured and cautious approach with virtual reality. Instead of teaming to broadcast live games on VR, the league last November partnered with NextVR to help create a post-game experience for fans that was available on demand not long after three select games concluded.

The "experiences" were to be about 10 minutes long from the chosen sites and include a combo of expert commentary and game highlights. For each production, press materials said, "NextVR will work alongside the award-winning team from NFL Films, utilizing their experience and access to deploy NextVR's virtual reality cameras throughout each stadium to capture immersive views of NFL action like never before."

The league understands well that virtual reality is a rapidly evolving technology. "This is a great opportunity for the NFL to continue experimenting with the capabilities and distribution of VR experiences," said William Deng, Director, Media Strategy and Business Development at the NFL.

The VR Original Series

Also last season, the NFL produced its first original VR series - a nine-part undertaking it created for launch on YouTube using Google Daydream's headset. The league was quick to say at the announcement last November that the focus here is promotional.

Vishal Shah, the NFL's senior VP of digital media, said of the undertaking when it was announced: "We want to get better acquainted with the technology, the platform, the content we can actually create… and how our fans are engaging in the content and viewing it."

NFL Films, an asset other pro leagues lack, produced the 5- to 10-minute episodes which covered players, coaches, executives, cheerleaders and fans

The NFL worked with Google is staff and equipment for the series. Important to note is that the league and Google teamed to develop, and is helping the NFL develop the app for the Daydream View platform.

Big Bandwidth or Bust?

In its quarterly State of the Internet report, Content Delivery Network (CDN) kingpin Akamai Technologies, Inc. reported gains in Internet connection bandwidth capacity. The average bandwidth to homes rose to 18.7 megabits/sec, for the first quarter of this year, while peak bandwidth rose to 86.5 megabits/sec.