Sports Illustrated's Innovation of the Year: Virtual reality

Sports Illustrated's Innovation of the Year is virtual reality.

This story appears in the Dec. 21, 2015, issue of Sports Illustrated. To subscribe, click here.

In many ways Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer is old-fashioned. He handwrites his notes, describes himself as "archaic" and uses a three-ring binder playbook instead of a tablet. So it meant a lot when, after weeks of fighting it last summer, the 35-year-old veteran of 12 NFL seasons got on board with the year's biggest game-changer, virtual reality. "I thought, There is no way this can change the way I play quarterback," Palmer (left) told The MMQB last month, "but I am all in."

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Virtual reality is revolutionizing practice and game prep, especially in football. STRIVR, a VR company that works with at least seven NFL teams and 13 college programs, sets up a 360-degree camera during seven-on-seven drills and then stitches together the footage. Later, players and coaches can put on headsets and be transported to the field, where a turn of the head can show them everything from the direction a cornerback is leaning to the quarterback's footwork.

Innovation of the Year: Virtual Reality

Alexis Cuarezma for Sports Illustrated

Danny Belch models a virtual reality headset during a photo shoot on July 28, 2015 at STRIVR Lab in Menlo Park, Calif. Developed at Stanford in 2014, the product replays game footage in 3D, and is intended for football film study and review. It is currently in use by several NCAA and NFL teams.

Alexis Cuarezma for Sports Illustrated

Danny Belch models a virtual reality headset during a photo shoot on July 28, 2015 at STRIVR Lab in Menlo Park, Calif.

Courtesy of Carson Palmer

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer uses a virtual reality headset to review formations and scout-team tendencies from practice, and to tweak his own mechanics, on Oct. 30, 2015 at his home in Paradise Valley, Ariz.

Julio Cortez/AP

New York Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick warms up in front of a virtual reality camera before a game against the Tennessee Titans on Dec. 13, 2015 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

Julio Cortez/AP

A New York Jets fan watches a virtual reality video before a game against the Tennessee Titans on Dec. 13, 2015 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

Rogelio V. Solis/AP

Mississippi quarterback Ryan Buchanan uses a virtual reality headset to make football play decisions on July 27, 2015 at the Manning Center in Oxford, Miss. Ole Miss is one of a growing number of football programs in the NCAA and NFL dabbling in virtual reality technology to help supplement work on the field.

Rogelio V. Solis/AP

Ole Miss quarterback Ryan Buchanan uses a virtual reality headset to make football play decisions on July 27, 2015 at the Manning Center in Oxford, Miss.

Handout

An OTOY 360-degree high-definition virtual reality camera is set up during the Los Angeles Kings practice on Feb. 26, 2015 for their Stadium Series game against the San Jose Sharks at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

Handout

OTOY CCO Clay Sparks sits with CEO Jules Urbach wearing a virtual reality on Feb. 26, 2015 before the Stadium Series game between the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

Brad Barket/Getty Images for American Express

A young fan participates in the "You Vs. Sharapova" Virtual Reality Experience at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Aug. 31, 2015 in New York City.

Mike Stone/Getty Images

Fans participate in a virtual reality exhibit at the 2015 UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour on April 18, 2015 in Dallas.

Charles Krupa/AP

A young New England Patriots fan wears a virtual reality headset while tailgating in the parking lot of Gillette Stadium before a game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Dec. 6, 2015 in Foxborough, Mass.

Another VR company, Headcase, aims to give prospective student-athletes and their families a sense of university life, filming the banter in the locker room, the run through the tunnel and the celebrations on the sideline. Fans are getting in on the action as well. In October the Warriors' season opener against the Pelicans became the first sporting event to be streamed live in virtual reality, and three days after Daniel Jacobs TKO'd Peter Quillin, Showtime made the match available for VR download.

VR: It's getting real.