Spain's OKDiario claims that Apple installed more than 100 cameras in Real Madrid's stadium to privately test broadcasting to Vision Pro.
If you're an American reading this who doesn't know much about what you call "soccer", here's some context: Real Madrid is one of the most successful clubs of all time, and has signed some of the best players of all time, including both Ronaldos, Zinedine Zidane, and David Beckham. In the year 2000, FIFA even officially declared Real Madrid "Club of the Century".
In November last year, OKDiario first reported that the president of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez, wanted to let fans watch games in immersive VR, hoping to court a company "like Apple" as the partner. Pérez called the concept "infinite stadium".
Now, almost a year later, OKDiario released a new report claiming that Apple is installing more than 100 cameras at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Real Madrid's home, to conduct tests during the Wednesday match against Juventus.
We should note that there's no confirmation from Apple or Real Madrid in the article, and 100 immersive cameras would seem like overkill, costing millions of dollars. It's possible the outlet is wrong about the exact number, or perhaps that many of the cameras are for tracking the players for a tabletop view similar to what the NBA rolled out to Vision Pro earlier this year, not just an immersive view.
David Heaney
The report comes two weeks after Apple and the NBA officially announced that select LA Lakers NBA games will be streamed in Apple Immersive to Apple Vision Pro owners next year, the first-ever live content for the format, via a new special variant of the Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive camera.
That at least proves that Apple is bringing live immersive sports to Vision Pro. But it's too early to tell whether immersive Real Madrid games could really be in the cards any time soon.
(Apple also did release an 2023 MLS Cup Highlights immersive video for Vision Pro last year, but that was a 5-minute video released months after the games.)
What Is Apple Immersive Video?
The Apple Immersive Video format is 180° stereoscopic 3D video with 4K per-eye resolution, 90FPS, high dynamic range (HDR), and spatial audio. It's typically served with higher bitrate than many other immersive video platforms.
We highly praised Apple Immersive Video in our Vision Pro review. It's not possible to cast or record Apple Immersive Video though, so you'll have to take our word for it unless you have access to a Vision Pro.
