We were invited to speak at the 2015 TV of Tomorrow Show in San Francisco this week, joining other panelist to speak about the future of sports entertainment. In this spirit, below is an Ecosystem Map to make visible some of the companies and organizations doing work in virtual reality and sports:

Rights Owners

What’s particularly interesting is that sports rights owners beyond the major four sports leagues have also recognized the emergent opportunity in virtual reality and have begun to capitalize.

Monetization

A majority of the VR sports companies (rights owners excluded) were founded within the last three years. Although large consumer audiences is a few years off, the amount of funding and participation by institutional investors in these startup companies is impressive, particularly in the absence of fully developed monetization strategies.

Opportunities

Aside from the technical advances needed to broadcast live sports, rights owners will have to embrace a new medium with limited reach. With more media coverage, development and consumer enthusiasm, the rate of adoption should increase over the next three years.

For a full, interactive version of the 2015 Virtual Reality Ecosystem Map click here: www.greenlightvr.com/vr-ecosystem-map

To brief our research analysts, visit us at www.greenlightvr.com

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We’d like to thank our fellow panelists – @Dave Alloway, Director of Customer Experience, Neulion, John Griffin, VP of Digital Media,@Dolby Laboratories, @Scott Gutterman, VP of Digital Products and Operations, PGA Tour, @Shaun Koiner, Chief Product Officer, Perform Media, and @Chris Kuhrt, Product Manager, Interactive TV, DISH Network (Moderator) – for their insights. A special thanks to @TVofTomorrow for inviting us.