Do you want to be run over by LaDainian Tomlinson or have that Philip Rivers pass right at your fingertips? Some key people who will look at the potential of teaming the National Football League and 3D viewing will get that chance.

Theaters in New York, Los Angeles and Boston will be showing the game between the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers on December 4, but viewers won’t be watching it like the rest of the country. They’ll be seeing it live in 3D, as an experiment in what the technology might hold for NFL broadcast production.

“We want to demonstrate this and let people get excited about it and see what the future holds,” NFL senior VP of broadcasting and media operations Howard Katz told the Wall Street Journal.

The game will be shot with cameras from 3ality Digital, the production company behind the well-received “U2 3D” concert movie that hit theaters earlier this year.

Other players in the football game production include Thomson SA’s Technicolor Digital Cinema for the satellite and Real D 3D for the theater display—its 3D systems are in about 1,500 theaters globally, according to the Journal.

We’ve heard that 3D could be the wave of the future, so what do you think—will we be watching NFL in 3D from our living room couches or home theaters someday soon? Perhaps for big games like the playoffs and Super Bowl? Too bad the audience will have to suffer through the Raiders and Chargers for this experiment, though I suppose it could have been last week’s Steelers-Bengals Thursday night yawner instead.

Update: According to USA Today, the high-profile attendee list will include Patriots owner Robert Kraft in Boston (Kraft heads the NFL Broadcasting Committee), while the New York screening will have Giants co-owner John Mara, Jets owner Woody Johnson, Vikings owner Zygi Wilf,  and Redskins owner Daniel Snyder.

Arlen Schweiger - Managing editor of Electronic House Magazine

Arlen contributes product news items to electronichouse.com along with his role on the print publication. Got a tip? Send it along!