I’ve never been much of a college football fan, preferring to wait for the NFL season to start. But for those NCAA football lovers, you can now get 3D coverage of select games from ESPN. The sports network kicks off 3D college football tonight at 8 ET with the game between Boise State and Virginia Tech. If you have the requisite hardware (TV set and glasses), you can catch the match-up in 3D at 720p60 resolution. In contrast, the World Cup, which ESPN distributed but didn’t produce, ran at 1080i60. I don’t have access to tonight’s 3D game myself, but I do wonder if ESPN’s production will prove more adept than FIFA’s. Unlike the broadcast of The Masters, which I enjoyed briefly at my local Sony Style store, the 3D snippet I caught of the World Cup was underwhelming. Hard to know if the reasons were related to the production or just the sport itself.
Speaking of different sports in 3D, ESPN’s SVP of Technology Kevin Stolworthy says he expects that broadcasters will produce 2D and 3D content at the same time for certain events in the future. Football doesn’t lend itself to such efficiency, but Stolworthy says he could see boxing events, for example, where studios could run production once to create both a 2D and a 3D feed.