Follow the Leader

This week, Sprint confirmed that it has become the exclusive telecom provider for the NFL delivering live radio and television broadcasts of games and access to a variety of other content such as gameday previews, team reports, tailored scoring and stats, fantasy football access, and much more.  This move by Sprint has great potential to attract avid football and fantasy football fans who need their stats and love their team, but also boosting sales and data usage for Sprint.

Here is the full article: Sprint Scores Exclusive Mobile Deal With NFL.

After reading this article, I think that it is a great example for the NHL to follow.  I am pretty sure that the NFL did not reach out to Sprint with this opportunity simply because it does not need to.  The NFL is the most profitable sports league in America.  But for the NHL, which is trying to increase its popularity and sales after taking a huge hit from the 2004-2005 Lockout season, I think that they need to be proactive about getting a deal with some of the cell phone service providers.  We now have more service providers than can be counted on two hands (Alltel, AT&T, Nextel, Sprint, SunCom, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Verizon, Helio, Qwest, Boost Mobile, Cricket, Virgin Mobile, Metro PCS, etc.), so the NHL has a great opportunity to promote the league even more next season by following the lead of the NFL.

The league can provide content similar to the NFL such as live radio and television broadcasts, season previews, pre and post game interviews, player stats, fantasy hockey access and much more, in order to allow fans to enjoy hockey anywhere at any time.  Not will NHL fans have more access to the league and its content, but the service provider will attract a segment of the market that it may have not appealed to previously.  This mutually beneficial relationship is very necessary for hockey.

Summer Update

The NHL did a great job bringing their media to the internet and making it accessible to more people this season. If you want to learn more about what they’ve done, take a look at my blog and leave some comments. I’ve tried to provide as much information as I could. The future is very bright for the league and it will be very interesting to see what new innovations they implement next season.

For this summer, I found that the Detroit Red Wings are taping their players and coaches time with Lord Stanley’s Cup on their website. It will be interesting to see where they take the Cup so don’t miss it. Check out Red Wings TV at: http://redwings.nhl.com/index.html.

Its also been an active offseason with players and coaches moving to new teams so next season will be another great one. No new posts until then.

GO KINGS!!!

DETROIT RED WINGS – 2008 STANLEY CUP CHAMPS

Congratulations to the Detroit Red Wings who won their 11th Stanley Cup Championship in franchise history, holding off the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2, on June 4th and winning the series in six games. They were the best team in hockey this year when it was all said and done. Hats off to the Penguins on a solid playoff run, in the end, the Wings were far more superior but the Pens battled right to the very end. It was a great playoffs and very exciting to watch. I’ve added a video clip summarizing the best moments of the Stanley Cup Finals, so if you missed it, take a look:

May 24: Detroit 4 – Pittsburgh 0

May 26: Detroit 3 – Pittsburgh 0

May 28: Pittsburgh 3 – Detroit 2

May 31: Detroit 2 – Pittsburgh 1

June 2: Pittsburgh 4 – Detroit 3 (3 OT)

June 4: Detroit 3 – Pittsburgh 2
Detroit wins series 4-2

EA Sports NHL 08

Electronic Arts (EA) has been the leader in developing sports video games since 1993. They own popular game series such as NBA Live, FIFA, NHL, Madden NFL, and NASCAR. They established themselves as the most dominant sports game developer by focusing their games to portray reality as best as technology would allow. And unlike some other companies, they don’t have any special ties to a single platform, which means that EA can release their games for the best-selling active platform.

Being a sports fan, I’ve rented and played all of their sports games for PS3 and I have nothing but great reviews for each game. The life-like gameplay and graphics are amazing, which points to how remarkable it is that our technology has evolved so quickly and to perfection. It seems like just a while ago I was playing my Super Nintendo. If I were to clean the dust that has settled on that system and play NHL 95 I would be horrified because the graphics are ridiculously bad. I love the fact that I am witnessing such a rapid progression in technology.

Lets focus in on NHL 08 . The game was released on September 13, 2007 in North America and it won Gamespot’s “Best Sports Game of 2007″ award.

• Tagline: “No game is ever the same”
• Covers: Eric Staal (Main), Henrik Zetterberg (Sweden), Teemu Selanne (Finland), Jaromir Jagr (Czech Republic), Mark Streit (Switzerland)
• Released for: Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Windows

Game Features

1. Skill Stick System:The Skill Stick gave you the power to deke the goalie in NHL 07. Now you can more easily control the puck and own the 1-on-1 matchup by dekeing opposing defenseman. You can use your stick to push the puck into space and walk around your defender. Once you’re all alone in front, improved stick handling and shooting accuracy will give you the toolset to embarass the goaltender.

2. Improved AI: Dynamic AI adjusts to your every move both on offense and defense, challenging even the most skilled gamers. The intelligent CPU scouts your tendencies like a coach and makes the necessary adjustments to shut down your money plays, forcing you to adjust your style of play and try different strategies.
3. Custom Plays: This feature allows you to act as a coach and create any play that you can imagine. You take your team into practice mode and work on creating a custom play. Then watch your team execute it in the game as you decide when to use it.
4. Goalie Mode: Here you can control your goalie with a new 3rd person camera and make those crucial saves instead of relying on the CPU.
5. Develop AHL Players:For the first time ever, the game features the 29 teams of the American Hockey League. Players are able to develop talent through the AHL and then call up their prospects to play ing the NHL.
6. Authentic Presentation: From player likeness, to the signature jersey tucks and sock preferences, each player was developed with a lot of attention to detail to create a truly authentic on-ice experience. Additionally, as the NHL transitioned to the Rbk Edge jerseys, with new color patterns, striping and even new logos for some teams, for the 2007/08 NHL season, EA Sports was able to place all 30 teams new jerseys in the game before the start of the season.

CCM Skates

Rbk Edge Jerseys

All of this is great for the game, but I would like the NHL to advertise and take advantage of EA Sports’s established gamer-base. Currently, the game is made solely by EA and the league doesn’t have anything to do with it. But I feel like its a great opportunity to target avid hockey fans who cannot get enough of the NHL. When I play the game I cannot find anything that advertises tickets, the NHL’s website, or any of its online content for that matter. Both entities can mutually benefit from a partnership. The league can advertise the game on national TV and the game can market certain things about the league to a relevant target market. Working together would increase the profits and exposure of both the NHL and EA.

Ads can be placed in tons of places in the game. Right now, EA is advertising new Rbk Edge jerseys, sticks, and skates on the players in the game. But as the game is loading, ads for tickets, NHL.com, and clothing can be thrown in. Additionally, if you take a look at the boards of the rink, you notice the advertisements for Rbk, Upper Deck, and others:

This is a great spot for the NHL to place its website address or other online content and news sources. Another interesting place to include advertisement is when a gamer goes online. Here the NHL can advertise games and tickets, post news articles, links to its Youtube and Myspace sites, and have clips of recent games.

There is so much this game can do for the NHL to increase its fan base and popularity. Just think about it. If a gamer decided to rent NHL 08 and open up to the the world outside of shooter games, there is a chance that he may like hockey because of the game. Then maybe he will watch a game on TV and next thing you know, he is buying tickets for games and inviting friends to come along. There is so much potential here and I am very interested if the NHL will move its advertising efforts into the video game industry.

Hopefully they do!

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

INTERESTING FACT:

EA Sports’s NHL Playoff Simulator has the San Jose Sharks defeating the Montreal Canadiens in this year’s Stanley Cup Final. (http://sports.espn.go.com/videogames/news/story?id=3044085)

The NHL on Facebook

Today’s social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace are helping not only the NHL, but all sports leagues, keep and grow their fan base.  As is pretty well known by now, these sites are free to access and they allow users to join one or more networks to easily keep in contact with friends, notify others of things going on with themselves, and interact with other people. 

Watercooler Inc., a company who has developed all of Facebook’s entertainment and sports applications, has brought these sites to the next level.  The company works with leading entertainment and sports partners to bring their content and brands to the millions of users across leading social networks.  Concentrating on the sports aspect, Watercooler Inc. has developed team specific applications that allow fans to interact with fellow fans, share activities and photos, and build a connection with those who have similar interests.  On their profile, a user can choose to support his or her favorite teams from a number of major sports such as: NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, soccer, college football, college basketball, and others. 

This snapshot from Facebook is an example of the Los Angeles Kings Fans application that can be integrating into ones profile.  Each team in the league has their own application on Facebook and those that add this application have access to its many features:

* Quizzes - Challenge your friends to see who knows more about the Kings!

* Trivia Challenge – Show everyone who’s the biggest fan with the biggest Kings trivia game anywhere!

* Waves – Rally the faithful to stand up and support the Kings!

* Smack Talk – Taunt your friends on their Wall year round!

* Discussion – Before and after every game, talk about everything with other Kings fans!

* Who’s Going - See which friends are going to the next game!

* Photos - Add Kings photos to your profile page!

* Become a Kings ‘Legend’ -Recruit your friends and make Los Angeles #1!

These features are a great way to entertain fans and allow them to connect with others; however, the NHL has no control over the content of these applications.  Users just build onto the already established application by adding their favorite pictures of their team, joining in on chats, and becoming active in their team’s network.  And unfortunately, the NHL has not paid much attention to these social networking sites.  For example, the league has created a MySpace page, but it has not been updated since the end of the 2007 Playoffs (http://www.myspace.com/nhl).  These sites are a great opportunity that the league needs to take advantage of in order to increase its popularity and profits.

The reason why I believe that these sites are a great opportunity is because of their ability to advertise to a targeted audience.  If the NHL decided to partner with Watercooler Inc. and gained control over their online content on Facebook, they would be able to advertise tickets, products, events, and other things directly to their fan base.  And more specifically, each team would be able to advertise precisely to their particular fans, who will be the most interested in what they have to sell.  This form of advertising is known as the bullet method and is much less expensive then the buckshot approach which is when an advertiser shoots out ads all over the market in the hopes of grabbing anyone’s attention. 

Using social networking sites would nicely complement the NHL’s existing online achievements and open up new channels for the league to advertise through.  Most importantly is the fact that the current Facebook online community has over 69 million active users worldwide.  If the NHL taps into this network, there is no saying how much it can improve the league’s profits. 

StratTix: Making ticket sales proactive, rather than reactive

Last season (2006-2007) the NHL adopted a ticket analysis tool called StratTix to help all 30 teams grow home game revenues and maximize ticket sales, while standardizing how they report their revenues to the league.  It became the second major sports league to integrate StratTix’s data analysis features, the other being the NBA.  After a year of use, the NHL has capitalized from the benefits that StratTix has provided by setting a league record for attendance throughout last season and it will help the league going forward.

There are two critical activities that professional sports franchises must do well for the team to be successful. First, they need to assemble and maintain winning teams in order to attract fans. Second, they need to maximize the revenue from their activities. Assembling a successful team together depends on signing the right players and making good trade decisions.  To maximize revenue, concentrating on ticket sales often returns immediate benefits.  The NHL is unique among the professional sports leagues because more than 60% of the its revenues comes directly from ticket sales, so improving this process has been a key issue. 

Most ticketing systems, however, are focused on simply fulfilling and tracking transactions, not maximizing revenue. As a result, a great deal of potential revenue to the teams is lost.  StratTix is the first tool that lets users quickly gather ticket information from a variety of sources to gain a real-time view of ticket inventories and trends prior to a game.  It takes data directly from the ticketing system of a stadium or arena and produces a variety of visual and quantitative analyses. This allows sales teams to develop strategies on the fly to fill seats as they can quickly figure out which seats are available and initiate specific campaigns to sell them.  StratTix provides sports teams and entertainment venue managers a variety of strategic advantages, including:

1. the ability to see previously hidden patterns and trends within an event or stretch of events;

2. track the impact marketing campaigns such as advertising, promotions and direct mail have on sales; and, 

3. monitor price effects visually and quantitatively.

“Previously, real-time data collection was impossible,” said Lorraine Spadaro, vice president of technology and eBusiness for the Boston Bruins. “We’d get data from various ticket sources that sometimes was several days old. So we often had to make assumptions, which isn’t the best way to fill the arena. StratTix gives us in-depth mouse click analysis so we have the most current information for making crucial marketing decisions.” Consistently filling a venue to capacity is a challenge for many organizations.  However, StratTix takes the guesswork out of the process. The sales staff no longer has wait for the box office or ticketing systems to produce “up-to-date” ticket information. Instead, they can use StratTix to collect the data in real time and automatically see what seats are still unfilled. That real-time access lets them make smarter decisions about how to fill unsold seats.  The NHL will greatly benefit going forward because StratTix will help teams grow their capacity for home games with better ticket sales.

Making life easy for hockey fans

With the NHL regular season coming to an end yesterday and everyone looking forward to the playoffs, NHL.com is introducing new content that will make avid fans drool.  This is the first glimpse of the NHL Network Online, which will go live this Wednesday.  Its newest creation is a seven-channel digital network that will hopefully excite its existing fans and perhaps attract newcomers with all of the exclusive content that will be available.

The NHL Network is the first network dedicated to the National Hockey League, where you get a 24-hour, all-access pass to the most comprehensive hockey coverage—both on and off the ice. It will include a channel called “The Hockey Show.”  This is a live 15 minute show offering highlights, updates, and interviews of players and coaches that will be available throughout the day.  A second channel, LiveWire, will offer live news conferences, morning skates, and other live events.  And a third channel, the seasonal Playoff Channel, will offer news, highlights, and features from the upcoming playoffs all-day long.  These three channels each have sponsors: Bud Light, Cisco, and Dodge.  The other four channels will offer current and old highlights going back two and a half years, podcasts, radio programming, and archival features.

In congruence with an earlier blog of mine, I would like to reiterate the NHL has not had great fortune with national TV deals because most Americans are just not interested in hockey.  Ratings were plummeting and no station wanted to carry the NHL.  Therefore, the league has resorted to the World Wide Web and its endeavors have been quite a success.  The NHL has tailored most of its content thus far for avid fans, who are keeping the league alive.  The league’s vice president for broadband and new media, Andre Mika, stated that “We [NHL] have 53 million avid fans that we know of.  If we can attract anyone outside those 53 million, that’s icing on the cake.” 

My prediction is that this new online network will attract a lot of new viewers.  I feel this way first of all because of the hype that is being generated going into this year’s playoffs.  We have the two young superstars in Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin battling in the Eastern Conference and we have the league’s best team, the Detroit Red Wings, and the defending champs, the Anaheim Ducks, in the Western Conference.  I haven’t felt this excite for the NHL playoffs since the LA Kings were last in it in 2002.  Secondly, after subscribing to the network, I believe that the content is extremely engaging and fresh to the sporting/online world.  I have no doubt that those new viewers who get the opportunity to see the NHL from this angle will be drawn in.

What makes the NHL’s online efforts so much different from other sports such as football, basketball, and baseball, is that they are offering more then just the hard facts: statistics and highlights of the season.  The NHL is focusing on the softer side of the sport and looking at what players, coaches, training staff, commentators, etc., do on a daily basis.  They are offering an all-inclusive behind the scenes access to the league.  Each team will have content uploaded on the network, making it customizable to each individual’s preferences and favorite team. 

Unless you know a professional athlete or are one, the general public has never truly been informed of the life that these people live behind the sport.  I have always wanted to know how often do professional hockey players work-out?  Or when do they go to bed before a game?  What do they eat before a game?  How often are they at home with family?  How often do they practice?  The NHL Network gives you the answer to all of these questions, helps you become more acquainted with your favorite hockey players, and makes you more knowledgeable about the sport.  I mean, who has ever seen a morning practice of their favorite NHL team?  I don’t think many people have the leisure to wake up, drive to the rink, and watch their team practice.  But now you can do this wherever and whenever you feel convenient.

I am very excited for the NHL and hope to start using my online access this Wednesday.

The Glowing Puck

In 1997, after hearing complaints from American viewers that hockey is not a good TV sport because the puck is too small to follow, Fox, who was still broadcasting the NHL at the time, experimented with what it called FoxTrax.  This was Fox’s name for what is more generally known as a glowing puck.  At all times during a game, the puck is highlighted no matter where it is on the ice making it extremely traceable.  Not only was the puck highlighted, but whenever a shot was taken, there would be a streaking red tail and a pop-up at the bottom of the TV screen showing the speed of the shot.  It sounds like a great idea, but this innovation failed because of protests from avid hockey fans.  Before diving deeper into the two sides, take a look at this clip for the 1997 All-Star game:

 First, to understand how the whole thing works, you need to know the technology behind it.  Here is a cross-section of a FoxTrax puck:

 To create the FoxTrax puck, a standard NHL puck was cut in half, and a tiny circuit board with a battery was placed inside. The circuit board contained motion detectors and infrared emitters.  These additional enhancements added less than one-hundredth of a gram to the original puck’s mass. The two halves were sealed with epoxy and the puck could be used for game-play. However, the battery only had a 10 minute lifespan, so at least 50 FoxTrax pucks were produced before each game. The puck was activated when it was struck by a hockey stick.

During a Fox NHL broadcast, the puck emitted infrared pulses to motion sensors located along the boards of the rink. These sensors were synchronized to the pulses. Next, infrared cameras along the rafters detected these pulses and transmitted their coordinates to a television van outside the arena. The truck contained computers that superimposed computer graphics on the puck coordinates, which could be seen by viewers at home. The visual result was a bluish glow around the puck. Unfortunately, blue does not show up very well against the white of the rink. Passes were indicated with the bluish glow plus a comet tail indicating its path. When the puck moved faster than 70 mph, there would be a red tail following the path of the puck. And because this process could potentially be very costly, FOX employees would sometimes go into the stands to retrieve a puck that left the rink, rather than let the fans keep the puck as they normally would during the course of a game.

Now there are a couple arguments for and against the use of this puck.  Newcomers to hockey who only occasionally watched a game really liked the idea of this glowing puck.  It made the game more easy to follow and entertaining with its shot speed statistics.  Viewers who had previously complained about not being able to follow the game were satisfied.  However, FOX made a big mistake of focusing on this small market segment because the majority of the NHL’s rating were based on hockey enthusiasts who hated the glowing puck.  Their argument was the video graphics were a distraction and turned hockey into a video game, particularly targeting the comet-like tail that would trail a hard shot.  Others argued that it should not be difficult to spot a black puck on white ice and that a glowing puck was completely unnecessary.  Most importantly, a lot of the players did not like the way the FoxTrax puck bounced around because of the enhancements.  Not only was this a problem, but these pucks were not available to practice with because it was too expensive for FOX.  Although ratings got a big boost, the combination of all this negative reaction to the FoxTrax puck was overwhelming and eventually led this innovation to become obsolete a year after its introduction. 

Personally, I completely agree with most hockey enthusiasts that the glowing puck is unnecessary for hockey.  It made the game feel artificial and more like a video game.  However, I do feel that this technology could be put to better use for example in goal line controversies.  It is very typical to have a goal disallowed because no cameras or referees saw the puck cross the goal line when there is a crowd around the goalie.  Putting a similar sensor inside the puck and having it provide a notification when the puck crosses the goal line would provide a simple solution. In any and all instances where the referee and replay cameras cannot see the puck when it’s under the goalie’s pads, the goal sensor would provide irrefutable evidence as to whether or not the puck crossed the line. Much like the advanced technology used to show whether a tennis shot is in or out, this technology would actually make life easier for both the on-ice and video replay officials, likely decreasing the length of each review and providing all interested parties with definitive conclusions.

Of course, implementing this technology would be quite costly, but it would actually result in increased profits on a long-term basis. It would eliminate the need for goal judge, and for the fans, it would eliminate the lengthy delays during video reviews, many of which end inconclusively, instead providing clear and definitive evidence each time.

The OvechKam

All of the hype in the NHL has moved from Canadian superstar Sidney Crosby to Russia’s Alexander Ovechkin. 

He is currently ranked first in the league in points (99), goals (57), points per game, game winning goals (10), and he is the primary candidate to become this year’s MVP.  Not only are his stats amazing, but actually watching the way he plays the game is very intriguing.  I guess I’m not the only one who thinks so because on March 12, 2008, Comcast SportNet’s unveiled its latest innovation, the “OvechKam.”  This is a camera dedicated to following the Washington Capitals left wing Alexander Ovechkin throughout the entire game, providing viewers with an unprecedented look at the most prolific player in the NHL today.  Take a look:

I love it!  Being a huge fan and a player, I like to focus in on the best players and observe how they skate, control, and shoot the puck, and where they position themselves on the ice at all times.  Watching the pros helps me when I play hockey because I incorporate what they do into my playing style.  The OvechKam has made it easy to follow Alexander, who my focus would be naturally geared towards because of his abilities.  Previously, it has been very easy to lose sight of a particular player, especially when he is out of the camera’s view.  But now with Comcast’s new innovation, the job is done for me. 

There are however, many critics of this idea.  The NHL is attempting to individualize the sport on its best player today and many true hockey fans hate this.  If you take a look at the video, you can clearly see that they have focused on Ovechkin in the larger screen and the actual game in the smaller screen.  A lot of people have complained that the OvechKam is not only distracting because you cannot see the game being played but also it was focused on Alexander even when he was sitting on the bench resting.  I actually thought that this was a little ridiculous as well, but then again Comcast had set aside a HD channel showing the same game without the OvechKam so that viewers could flip to the view they preferred. 

Although hockey is a team sport and it should not be focused on one player solely, I really liked this idea.  It is new, fresh, and really trying to get the most out of the league’s All-Star player.  I really liked how I was able to view Alexander’s every move, his reactions, and all of his goals, up close and personal.  But I have to say that I could get tired of this because I like to watch the game of hockey.  If Comcast can consistently guarantee another channel that will show the regular view of the ice than I am all for it. 

It will be interesting to see how this is going to be taken forward.  Here is an idea that I want to throw out.  I would really like to be able to pick which player I want the camera to be focused on.  For example, I play defense and I would like to see how an All-Star defenseman like the Detroit Red Wings’s Nicklas Lidstrom reacts to plays and positions himself on the ice.  Or if I wanted to see some big hits, I could focus the camera on one of the feistier players such as the New York Rangers’s (and former LA Kings player) Sean Avery.  I think the dedicated camera is a great tool that NHL should needs to take advantage of and develop more.  This has the potential to give the league a much needed boost in popularity if they play their cards right.

Watch hockey from a new Point of View.

Have you ever wondered what it must feel like to be a NHL goalie?  …Well now you can experience hockey from the goalie’s point of view, without having to stop 100 MPH slap-shots.  I’d like to introduce to you the GOALIE CAM:

In this clip from December 15, 2004, Marc-Andre Fleury, goaltender for the Pittsburgh Penguins, tested out the newly created goalie cam.  Though this is not the first goalie cam to be used, it is however the first time that a camera is actually built into the goalie’s mask instead of being mounted on the outside of the helmet.  Safety problems caused the latter to be reinvented.  The new and improved NHL goalie cam was developed by Jeff Silverman, owner of Inertia Unlimited in Jacksonville, Vt.  He used the Sony XC-555 mini camera which was mounted behind a pencil-sized hole drilled below the chin of the goalie mask.  Here is a close-up of Fleury’s custom made helmet:

 

                                                 

As you can see, the camera takes up minimal space in order to be more comfortable and safe for the goalie.  Jeff Silverman stated that live footage would be captured ”with an RS-232 interface on the Sony camera, they [broadcasters] can directly control the video gain, sharpness, and iris level of the fixed-image camera from a laptop with a USB connector by using a small Global Microwave Systems 2 GHz RF transmitter mounted atop the goal.”  This would allow a network such as NBC to easily switch from the traditional camera view point in the upper level of the arena to the goalie’s point of view on the ice.

Fleury has worn the goalie cam more than anyone else in the league, but its popularity with the public will increase the number of NHL goalies who will use it.  Here is better quality clip from NBC’s goalie cam on Philadelphia Flyers’ goalie, Robert Esche:

http://mfile.akamai.com/16532/wmv/nh…am_nbc_700.asx

The NHL is doing all that it can with the available technology to make the game more attractive to viewers.  Since the lockout of the 2004-2005 season, the league is trying to reinvent the coverage of hockey to regain and expand its fan base.  The goalie cam is a great first step because viewers are placed right in the middle of all of the action with the goalie’s point of view.  In my opinion, I think this is a great investment for the NHL because it will attract more fans.  A lot of viewers complain that hockey is not interesting to watch on TV; however the goalie cam takes you inside the glass and on the ice.  I cannot think of any sports that gives you a first person perspective of the game at the professional level.