Can Japan deliver a holographic World Cup?


Soccer and technology don't normally mix; FIFA, the international football body, has long dragged its studded heels over efforts to introduce microchip sensors into match refereeing. So when Japan based its entire World Cup 2022 bid on a dazzling display of computer wizardry that doesn't yet exist, it was taking a gamble. Japan, which is vying with Australia, Qatar, South Korea and the United States for the 2022 tournament, will find out on December 2 whether its ambitious proposal paid off. But any sense of victory will be tempered by the Herculean task the country now faces in trying to turn a package of ideas, which appear to be stolen wholesale from science fiction, into science fact. At the heart of Japan's bid is a plan to broadcast entire games to stadiums on the other side of the world in what appears to be life-sized holograms. Promotional videos shown on the 2022 bid website show ghostly players chasing the ball while crowds of fans look on -- reminiscent of the classic Princess Leia hologram scene in "Star Wars." This is very aggressive planning, but I actually like it because they put a stick in the ground. But they are proposing something that doesn't exist right now and they're proposing to do it in 12 years

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