What does it mean to be a sports franchise steps from Silicon Valley? For the chief information officer, it means a slate of enticing tech-related resources at his or her fingertips. The problem is that there are so many leading-edge technologies CIOs could try, they must squint hard to see which ones they should try.

“People talk about the secret sauce for innovation — what’s the formula,” said Bill Schlough (pictured), senior vice president and chief information officer of the San Francisco Giants. “I would say, for us, it’s really a symbiotic relationship with a lot of different things.”

One of those things is a complementary osmosis between Schlough and venture capital firm Mayfield Fund LLC, to which Schlough is an adviser. Schlough gives Mayfield the 411 on the hot spots sports franchises are leaning toward. In turn, Mayfield helps the Giants make the right decisions about technological innovation in areas like fan experience and stadium upgrades.

“There’s so many great ideas out there; if you try to do all of them, you’re going to fail at all of them,” Schlough said. “You’ve got to pick a very small few to try to experiment with.”

Schlough spoke with John Furrier (@furrier), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Mayfield People First event in Menlo Park, California. They discussed how the giants collaborate with VC firms like Mayfield, other sports teams, and others on innovation. (* Disclosure below.)

Reinventing the replay

Venture capital firms, startups, and other sports teams are among the entities Schlough relies on to feed the Giants’ idea mill. “Our phones are ringing off the hook with a lot of folks, so my formula for innovation is: Answer the phone and take the meetings,” he said.

One might think that franchises would guard their playbooks from competing teams behind a wall of defensemen. But most are surprisingly collaborative when it comes to tech innovation, according to Schlough. “The only thing that we don’t really talk about that much is the technology we use to enhance the product on the field. Everything else is fair game,” he stated.

Obviously, it can’t hurt to be first in some advanced technology that takes the fan experience to a new level. “That’s why I love working with companies like Mayfield, because they’re seeing the future before we see it,” Schlough said.

The Giants are currently experimenting with virtual and augmented reality and volumetric 3D video that lets fans view replays in entirely new ways. Teaming with Korean startup 4DReplay, the Giants place 120 cameras every five feet and between the bases.

“They focus on the pitcher and the batter, so when you have a play, you can 3D or 4D rotate around that play and watch the ball as it’s moving off the bat,” Schlough said. “It’s about being wherever you want to be, anywhere in the action.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Mayfield People First event. (Disclosure: TheCUBE’s coverage of the Mayfield People First event is presented by Mayfield Fund LLC.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE