Manchester United FC and shirt sponsor TeamViewer dedicated December’s Premier League game against Arsenal at Old Trafford to frontline workers to recognise and reward their bravery, commitment and effort during the pandemic.
Initially fans were invited to nominate their frontline heroes for recognition via a straightforward online mechanic and then a trio were chosen from all those nominated and rewarded with an exclusive player’s eye view of matchday at Old Trafford using augmented reality technology.
Three winners were chosen to attend the 2 December game as ‘guests of honour’ and were treated to what the club and sponsor described as ‘a first-of- its-kind experience’ via AR which enabled them to watch the build-up to kick-off through the eyes of the players using smart glasses enabled with TeamViewer’s augmented-reality software – called Frontline.
While health and safety protocols to control the spread of Covid-19 meant that access to player areas was tightly restricted at Old Trafford, the three ‘Frontline Heroes’ were able to get behind-the- scenes with live images streamed live from smart glasses worn by a member of club staff inside the ‘Red Zone’. This meant that guests were able to experience the players’ arrival off the team coach, pre-match warm-ups on the pitch and the walk-out moment for one of the biggest Premier League games of the season, with real-time engagement from the playing and coaching staff.
For the game itself, the three winners were joined in the stands by all the other fan-nominated frontline heroes who enjoyed United’s 3-2 win courtesy of tickets gifted by TeamViewer in acknowledgement of their work.
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Manchester United were one of the innovators and early movers in terms of provided distanced fans with unique pitchside views and player-linked tech-based and AR experiences and previous related initiatives date back to 2013’s ‘Google Hangout Training Kit Launch’ and 2014’s ‘Virtual Front Row’.
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