# 3-D holograms of live sports events

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-d-holograms-of-live-sports-events/562950>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [December 4, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-d-holograms-of-live-sports-events/562950 "2010-12-04T18:44:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-d-holograms-of-live-sports-events/562950/1 "2010-12-04T18:44:32Z")

</div>

Japan’s bid for the 2022 world cup featured some amazing technology especially live 3-D holographic broadcasts of the games to stadiums all over the world. [Engadget](http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/03/world-disappoints-us-once-again-japan-loses-2022-3d-holographic/)has the video of their presentation.

```
This technology could revolutionize sports and entertainment. For high-profile events like the World Cup and the Olympics you could have millions of people watching in stadiums all over the world. Would work great with concerts and all sorts of live acts too I would imagine. But would this technology actually work and could it be developed in a decade's time?

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-d-holograms-of-live-sports-events/562950/2 "2010-12-04T19:10:24Z")

</div>

The technology described does not exist, and will not exist for a very long time. Probably what they were planning on doing was to project 2-D images onto translucent screens and then telling everyone that it was 3-D: That’s what’s usually done when folks talk about “holographic projection” nowadays. That, or adding it in post-production of a filmed event, which does no good at all for the people actually at the stadium or wherever.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-d-holograms-of-live-sports-events/562950/3 "2010-12-04T19:26:06Z")

</div>

Apparently there has been a major [breakthrough](http://news.discovery.com/tech/holographic-3d-tv.html)in 3-d holograms recently:

> [@](#):
>
> Arizona researchers have created the first 3-D hologram movie that plays almost in real time, they report in the Nov. 4 Nature. It’s the fastest known demonstration of telepresence, where a 3-D hologram depicts a scene from another location.
> 
> The key to the invention is a new type of plastic that can refresh the hologram once every two seconds. While that’s too slow to watch the World Series in 3-D, the researchers estimated holographic TV could be coming in seven to 10 years.

So it’s not out of the question that the technology in that video could be ready by 2022 though realistically it will probably take a decade or so longer.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-d-holograms-of-live-sports-events/562950/4 "2010-12-04T22:21:44Z")

</div>

Huh, I stand corrected. I had no idea something like that was even close to being on the horizon. It’d still be incredibly expensive to cover an entire soccer pitch with that stuff, and illuminate the entire surface with multiple high-power lasers.