As the video above shows, hockey from the vantage point of a hockey players is nuts. The stick work! The speed! That’s why the NHL and GoPro are teaming up to fill NHL broadcasts with hot, first-person action cam footage. It’s going to be awesome.
The NHL/NHLPA just inked a deal with GoPro to bring action cams to televised hockey across the United States and Canada using the camera company’s newly developed broadcast solution. Basically, in order for GoPros to be usable in live broadcast settings, the company had to develop a very small very lightweight wireless transmitter. The inaugural usage will be this weekend’s skills competition before the All Star Game. The cameras are ready for use during the game itself, but it’s not 100 per cent clear whether they will be used in the broadcast.
The path forward after this weekend isn’t totally clear, but broadly, you should expect to see more and more GoPro footage. It’s not clear if regular season games will see players with GoPros mounted to their heads, or if they cameras will just be littered around the rink. GoPro tells me that that “NHL and NHLPA have the technology and are free to use it as little as much as they want.” They’re not contractually obligated to, though, and players can be resistant to such tech.
Either way, that video above. More of that. Yes. That rules.
Hockey is a blazing fast sport that requires insane skills, but while it can be fun to watch on TV, you can lose a lot of the action just trying to keep track of the puck. Bringing instant replays that are full of wide angle shots that show a closer perspective to what players are seeing could provide just the immersive kick the sport and its viewers need. [GoPro]