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The first live sports broadcast was a baseball game between Princeton and Columbia on NBC in 1939. No longer confined to the margins of newspapers and the vague whispers of radio commentators, fans could now witness the pinnacle of sportsmanship as if they were in the stadium, experiencing the tension, joy and heartbreak of live motion, all from the comfort of their living rooms.
Fast forward to today and technology is evolving at a breakneck pace, changing the way we watch sports and moving ever closer to totally immersive virtual experiences. This is what co-founders Andrew Hawkins and Troy Jones founded Pro conditionconsider this as the next step in this journey.
I’m entering the virtual field
Troy Jones (former D1 quarterback) and Andrew “Hawk” Hawkins (former NFL wide receiver) teamed up with a specific goal: to present fans the feeling of being an NFL star. “People always ask us what it’s like to be a professional athlete,” Hawk says. “We always say the same thing: It’s as fun as it looks.”
Together, they use their sports knowledge to make the fantasy of competing at the highest level a reality. This vision became the driving force behind their company’s enterprise, Status Pro.”NFL skilled eraLaunching in 2022, “Pro Era” is the first officially licensed NFL VR game. Using VR headsets, users are transported to the center of an NFL game, allowing them to feel what it’s like for skilled QBs. The game has grow to be the fastest-selling sports title in the Meta Quest store, and recently launched the third installation of “NFL Pro Era 2025”.
Game changer
Before it became a hit video game, “Pro Era” was intended as a training tool for skilled athletes. “When we first got this technology, we spent a lot of time showing it to our families, friends, former team members – anyone who had a similar experience,” Jones recalled. Over time, they noticed something unexpected: players spent much more time with the “training product” than they expected.
“Guys have come to us and said, ‘It seems realistic, but it’s also a lot of fun,’” notes Hawk. This feedback made us realize: If skilled athletes found this experience enjoyable, how fun wouldn’t it be for fans who have never experienced something similar? With this in mind, they shifted their focus from the locker room to the boardroom and began presenting their technology to investors in the gaming space. “Every time we gave a non-professional athlete a headset and put him on the virtual 50-yard line, it was a shock to him,” Jones says. These demonstrations confirmed that fans had a deep desire to have interaction more meaningfully with the sport and that XR/VR technology was the key to unlocking this.
Reading the defense
With tech giants like Meta pouring billions into the VR market, the landscape is becoming more attractive to enterprise capitalists. But it wasn’t at all times like this. When Hawk and Jones began their journey in 2020, enthusiasm for virtual reality was much less widespread. So how did they manage to remain optimistic in the face of such uncertainty? Hawk believes it was because they were “stupid”.
“We were just the right amount of crazy,” he laughs. “Every entrepreneur thinks that everything will happen faster than it actually does, but we were sure of it.” Jones believes this determination is attributable to their background. “We’ve both been told no our whole lives,” he says. This shoulder-heavy mentality has propelled them to success in sports and continues to motivate them as they break barriers in business.
“When Hawk has a good game, his coach doesn’t praise him all day long,” Jones notes. Instead, his years in the NFL taught Hawk to critically evaluate every performance and always look for improvements.
That resilience served the pair well during the licensing negotiation process with the NFL, which Hawk called “the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my career.” While their status as former athletes opens many doors, it does not guarantee brand partnerships. After all, there are countless athletes with entrepreneurial ambitions. What sets Hawk and Jones apart is their ruthless execution. “We are happy to fly across the country to connect with someone who can put us in touch with the right person,” Hawk said.
Executing the game plan
Entrepreneurial success requires greater than a great idea, as Jones and Hawk learned early on. Before they pitched their concept to investors, that they had to show their vision into a tangible product. While some founders rely on their experience and credibility, even former NFL players must reveal that they have something real to supply. So they developed a prototype, refining the pitch over and yet again until it began to realize traction. “Investors want to know that you have a profitable product,” Hawk emphasizes. “But more importantly, they want to know why you can be the one to bring it to life.” Jones admires Hawk’s talent for discovering his product’s story and effectively communicating it to potential investors. “He knows how to get people excited about investing in our vision,” Jones says. In a landscape where minority founders are often underrepresented, Jones sees their story as a differentiator. “We had the foundation to show that we could realize this vision, and we had a prototype that showed the incredible potential of our idea if we could fully develop it,” he says.
Jones and Hawk’s journey with Status Pro is not only about building a business – it is also about changing the way people experience sports. Every sports tech company talks about disruption, but Status Pro is one of the few that truly delivers on that promise. As the company grows, Hawk and Jones are redefining what it means to be a sports fan. “Most people are focused on improving the way they watch sports,” Jones says. “We’re focused on creating what people don’t even know they want yet.” Hawk explains it more simply: “Years from now, whoever plays an NFL VR game for the first time, it will be through us,” says the former wide receiver. “This is real disruption.”