Tonights OKL - Florida game in 3D

[SouthernJet]

I understand sevaeral theaters across country are showing...Anyone going to a 3D theater????

BCS title game aired in 3-D

Local theaters to show new format

Roger Van Der Horst - Staff Writer

Tonight's Bowl Championship Series title game will provide one of the first major public tests of how good a game looks in 3-D. More to the point, it will produce some initial evidence of how many fans are willing to abandon their big-screen TVs and pay $20 a ticket to don those special glasses.

The Florida-Oklahoma game, which is being televised by the Fox broadcast network, also will be shown live and in 3-D in about 80 movie theaters, including the Marquee Wakefield 12 in Raleigh and five others in North Carolina.

As of midday Wednesday, the local theater still had about 245 of 284 seats left, but assistant manager Morgan Cox said he expects a strong walk-up crowd.

"We have had a lot of people calling and asking, so I'm guessing that people are just going to wait until the last second," Cox said.

Technology, theater and sports industry executives see 3-D technology as a new way of delivering -- and charging for -- sports to viewers, counting on the "wow" factor to appeal especially to those weaned on PlayStation and Xbox videogame systems.

"It becomes, to me, a way to attract the next generation of viewers," said Jerry Steinberg, senior vice president of field operations for Fox Sports.

Fox, which owns the rights to the BCS game, is allowing a 3-D production company called 3ality to shoot the game with special cameras. Cinedigm, a digital cinema company, will transmit the signal via satellite to theaters; Fox will provide the announcers, Tim Ryan and Kenny Albert, and other assistance.

Fox will use 14 cameras for its high-definition broadcast, while the 3-D crew will use eight. Steinberg said the trick is finding the right balance between offering the "really exciting 3-D stuff that comes right at the lens" and providing broad enough coverage so viewers know what's happening in the game. Last month, a Thursday night NFL game between the San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders was shown live in 3-D in three theaters and was popular with audiences despite a couple of technical glitches.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is among those who believe there is an untapped appetite for 3-D broadcasts of sporting events. In an e-mail response to a reporter's questions, Cuban would not go so far as to call it "the next big thing" in sports. But he's confident enough in the potential growth of 3-D presentations to have bought a 9.4 percent stake in Carmike Cinemas.

"It will take a few years for all the live 3-D production equipment to become mainstream, but when it does, 3-D for live events will definitely take off," wrote Cuban, a co-owner of the Landmark theater chain.

At least locally, it will take off tonight without at least one tailgating staple many football fans expect. Fans will be able to buy bucket after bucket of popcorn, but the Marquee Wakefield doesn't allow alcoholic beverages.

The customers won't be disappointed with the experience, though, Martell said.

"Once you've watched any kind of sport in 3-D, they're all better," she said. "... We have a much more passive 2-D watching experience. In 3-D, your head is turning, you're looking, you're flinching. You're part of the action."

Martell said Cinedigm is already in discussions about future sporting events in 3-D -- "pretty much anything that you would think of as a tent-pole event [like] NASCAR or the Super Bowl." On Feb. 14, the Valentine's Day schedule at Marquee and Carmike theaters already includes a promised 3-D screening of the NBA's slam-dunk contest and other events.

[slowmoe57]

They have it near me -- but I cant go -- sounds interesting though