Verizon is a big sponsor for the NFL, and had a ton of events going on in Minneapolis before and during the Super Bowl this past weekend. But behind the scenes, Verizon was testing out a pre-commercial 5G connection during the Super Bowl. While 5G isn’t quite here, and likely won’t be for a few more years, Verizon has been testing all sorts of connections and implementations of 5G around the country, with US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis being the latest venue.
The way this was done, was with virtual reality headsets. Verizon had network engineers at “Alley, Powered by Verizon” which is located in New York City, along with some Verizon guests at the Super Bowl in Minneapolis, in a live demonstration of 180-degree live action happening at the game. There were also some high-resolution replays done on secondary screens, and all of this was done over 5G. This worked out so well thanks to the ultra-low latency of 5G, but also the very fast speeds that come with a 5G network. This is why many believe that 5G will allow the Internet of Things to thrive. Verizon also did another test with two football players (before the Super Bowl), which participated in an on-field demonstration, using 5G-connected first-person goggles and helmet-mounted cameras. The players were still passing, catching and so forth at the same speed as they would without these goggles and helmet-mounted cameras. This test was showing off the very fast latency that is achieved with 5G.