"Avatar" Style 3D Experience Set for Premier League Coverage by 2016

The Premier League is planning to roll out 3D Avatar-style technology within the next five years, allowing TV viewers to watch games as if they were actually in the stadiums.

"You could be on a Saturday evening in Hong Kong, 3 p.m. in England, deciding whether you want to be on the Kop or the Holte End at Aston Villa. You’ll be able to choose where you want to be and watch the game," said the EPL's chief executive Richard Scudamore.

“I think it’s only about five years from being readily available. It’ll certainly happen within my working life. It’ll be like an Avatar type of thing available in your own home. It’s the sort of thing our kids are playing with all the time. It might seem a bit ‘blue sky,’ but it isn’t. Hong Kong is gizmo central, but it will be available everywhere.

“I see that vision and I can see it happening. I’m quite excited about it and it’s the sort of thing we should be doing. We’ve been speaking to a couple of companies about working with them on developing the product.”

The Premier league is reportedly working with Sony and EA about possible design concepts.

Sony are said to already be developing a technology called "Super Wide," which will take a number of shots and pull them together to form a panoramic view of the entire field. TV viewers would then be able to chose which section they want to watch as the game unfolds.

Meanwhile, EA are working on "3D holographic representation", which could be ready in time for the 2012-13 season. The idea is that passages of play could be analyzed in 3D.

“There’s been a step change from standard definition to High Definition in terms of how people consume football,” Scudamore said.

"3D is coming along and there’ll soon be a technological development that will allow people across the world to have a much richer experience of watching football..."

Watch this space for further developments...