The Future of Sports: Kyle Lindsey Of World Wide Technology On The New Emerging Technologies That Are Disrupting The World Of Sports

by Yitzi Weiner

I had the pleasure of interviewing Kyle Lindsey. Kyle has spent the last 25 years bridging the gap between the worlds of Engineering, Sales, and Business Development. Actively listening to understand the business challenges his customers face and helping them attain success in successfully utilizing amazing new technologies.

In his current role, he has the privilege of working with some of the largest Service Providers in the US and the most innovative Video Game companies in the world. Partnering with them on complex multivendor solutions that focus on advanced technologies including Multi/Hybrid Cloud, Custom Software Development, AI/ML, XR/AR/VR, Virtualization and xOps.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to "get to know you" a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your 'backstory' and how you got started?

Technology and video games have been some of my core passions from an early age. I remember getting so frustrated as a kid that I could not get Choplifter to work on my Commodore 64, that I spent many hours getting it to work. Then that sense of accomplishment that I was finally able to play the game. That is one of those points in my life that I can look back on and say that is why I do what I do today. When it was time for college, I was planning on becoming a graphic artist. In one of my meetings with my counselor, he asked me a key question, do I like technology and video games that's what brought me to think that I could do technology for a career. It's funny, I remember very clearly him saying there is this thing called the internet and it is going to be a big deal.

When I graduated, I went to work for Cisco Systems instead of going the startup route. I have always wondered how things would have turned out if I took that other path. I spent 20 years at Cisco in a variety of roles and primarily focused on service providers and how to provide internet and video entertainment. I was really drawn to how we bring these exciting experiences into our homes.

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Ok wonderful. Let's now shift to the main focus of our interview. Can you tell us about the sports technologies that most excite you at the moment? Can you explain why you are passionate about it?

I am really excited to see how professional sports and these new Metaverse technologies will merge. We at WWT have been able to be at the forefront of some of these experiences. We with our partners at ForwARdgame created RaceAR where you can interact with the World Wide Technology Raceway in AR at the Enjoy Illinois 300. The team created a bunch of fun gamification elements that layer onto a real race track. That not only opens the door to new and exciting ways to interact with professional racing, but it also has the ability to bring in younger viewers to the sport. We also created GolfAR for the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. We were able to bring the one of a first of its kind AR experience onsite into a Tour event. It is opening so many avenues to use immersive 3d technology into sports.

One of the I am passionate about the intersection of technology and sports is how it will be younger fans into sports. GenZ and younger have grown up in a digitally native world where the ability to interact with the world is an expectation, not a nice to have. We can bring these Immersive technologies to engage with this generation.

How do you think this might change the world of sports?

When you think of watching sports at home, it is just that, a passive experience. I am so excited to think about the possibilities of interacting with sports in new ways by leveraging these new XR technologies. Imagine you are at home and the QB of your team throws a deep post, but there was an open receiver on the other side of the field. Now you can put on your AR/VR headset and change the play. Leveraging multiple new technologies like computer vision, AI/ML, and XR, you can show your buddy how you are right and the QB should have gone with the short pass.

It will personalize sports to a level never before seen. Having the ability to focus in on one car in a race or one golfer throughout a tour event. These XR technologies will bring details and statistics that are customized and specific to you and will layer on these details graphically in real-time using 3d.

I even think about how these things will trickle down into amateur, college, and even kids' sports. Think about how amazing it will be when you can use your phone to be able to see the speed of the ball on the last kick your kid made to score the game-winning goal.