The revolution will not be televised, but we've known that for years. It will be live streamed, Tweeted, Instagrammed, and Snapchatted. It will have its own hashtag. TV will show the highlights package later.

Professional sports are already way ahead on that front. In recent years IndyCar has aggressively been leaning on social media and streaming as a way to reach a new 20-something fan base to match its new 20-something champion. And it seems to be working, with the series having reported a 300 percent year-on-year increase in event-based live streaming views for 2017, and more than a million followers across its various social platforms. Encouraging... for now. But IndyCar's not just looking at 'now', but at two or three years from now. Which is where Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) come into the picture.

IndyCar has partnered with Los Angeles-based virtual reality creator Mandt VR to create a suite of IndyCar-related Virtual Reality content in 2018. For those who don't yet have the Oculus hardware required to view the VR material, there will also be a universally-accessible 360 degree version. IndyCar marketing boss C.J. O'Donnell says it's all about keeping slightly ahead of changes in the way fans consume sports. When VR hardware becomes commonplace, IndyCar will have content ready and waiting.

"Our performance this past season, and you could say even before that, certainly showed that video content was driving engagement," he says.

"Video and Live Streaming really drove a lot of the improvement in our social metrics over the past couple of years. [ED: The stream of Fernando Alonso's first Indy 500 test, above, drew more than two million views]. So, this is another step in that direction, and it's a dramatic one, because it now uses new technology and a very immersive experience to draw people into the IndyCar world. I'm really confident that this technology and the experience it delivers will be appealing to young and old.

"The partner we've selected, Mandt VR, will produce video for use with the Oculus goggles and in simple 360 format, which is where most people will see most of this content. Neil Mandt can produce video for both genres, and can deliver experiences in both genres very effectively. This is very important as the content that is out there today has limited reach because there are fewer people that have invested in the goggles versus a phone or iPad. IndyCar will be in a good position as availability of the Oculus hardware increases; we will have an archive of video where people can go back and reference it. We're on a really good path to take a leadership position in storytelling through AR and VR, and Mandt is a good partner to do that with."

IndyCar has dipped its toes in the VR/360 worlds before. Two years ago, JR Hildebrand used IndyCar as the basis for STEM-based educational VR project. Also in 2015, IndyCar partnered with GoPro to produce a 360 degree video of cars crossing San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. (Use your mouse to manipulate the image in the video below)

At the moment, it's estimated that about 5 percent of North Americans own some sort of VR hardware, much of which is likely to be simple devices like Google Cardboard. A minority, to be sure – but well ahead of the more typical 3 percent ownership rates seen elsewhere. The VR industry is very much dealing with growing pains of its own as it tries to wrestle the technology, the hardware and the software into a sweet spot that translates into an affordable, appealing mainstream consumer product.

But O'Connell believes that being proactive in a still-maturing world like VR helps reinforce IndyCar's broad commitment to innovation, regardless of the current take-up rates.

"I don't have hard data on the intersection of the sales of goggles with the IndyCar fan base," he says.

"I wish I could draw that Venn diagram and give you a hard number, but I can't. I do know that nearly 100 million of the cardboard goggles have been made and a few million homes have Oculus, Samsung or similar devices.

"But our motivation here is greater than just these estimates. Innovation is one of our core values and that's not just what we do with the car or on the racetrack, but also the way we go to market. So, taking an early position in backing VR is not inconsistent with who we are and where we want to be.

"That said, it's important that the content creates an experience that is immersive and exciting, and provides the thrill of the sport both in 360 format and in VR. For the reasons we've outlined, just with the limited distribution of goggles to date, I think what we're going to see with this video content follows a growth path much like something we experienced with live streaming a few years ago.

"The first time Facebook announced that live streaming was going to be available through their platform, we decided that it would be fun to give it a try. We had a couple of thousand, maybe 3000 people watch. Now, for practice session one at Watkins Glen, we had 300,000 people watching only two years later. The pace of change today is rapid. The acceptance of the technology is prolific. And we just have to sit back and go for the ride.

"I don't think the expanded use of this technology is far off. We'll see these goggles become readily available, and VR content become more commonplace. It's just good to be out there early and learning what can be done with it, and hopefully we'll be producing some of the higher-quality content that's out there today."