Pro sports teams are taking meaningful steps to make live games more inclusive for fans with vision impairments, with two pioneering approaches emerging in late 2024 and early 2025. At Selhurst Park in London, Crystal Palace FC introduced GiveVision headsets that stream real-time match footage directly to the functional part of users' retinas, enabling them to follow the action from any seat in the stadium. Meanwhile, the Portland Trail Blazers partnered with Ticketmaster to become the first professional sports team to offer OneCourt's haptic displays at all home games, allowing fans to track gameplay through touch-based feedback.
Both technologies tackle a crucial challenge in different ways. The GiveVision system operates on a dedicated private 5G network that eliminates broadcast delays, ensuring users experience every moment in sync with other spectators. OneCourt takes a different approach, translating NBA's live gameplay tracking data into intuitive vibrations that fans can follow with their fingertips on a sturdy, lap-based device. Neither solution requires users to sit in special sections, preserving the social experience of attending games with friends and family.
These initiatives address a significant gap in sports accessibility - according to research, 73% of sports fans with visual impairments avoid attending matches due to accessibility barriers. Early feedback suggests these technologies are transforming the live sports experience. As Leigh Ramsey, parent of a OneCourt user, shared after a Trail Blazers game: "This was amazing — inclusive, integrated, and not attention-drawing." With over 1 billion people worldwide affected by some degree of sight loss, innovations like OneCourt and GiveVision could enable millions of sports fans to fully participate in live sports. One to bring to a court, pitch or stadium near you?
Spotted by Pablo Riquelme
