NHL partners with GoPro to deliver fans unique perspectives of the game

Yes, you're absolutely right. Last year, in an attempt to "make it up to the fans," they added all of those extra "Stadium Series" outdoor games. Although I'd rather see more standard games, they're neat things to see.

A side note on the GoPro video on that site is similar to how I felt attending an actual game this year with really good seats: you don't fully get the sense of how fast the game moves and how incredibly talented these guys are as pushing a little rubber puck around ice. This video made me feel like I did watching it live and right in front of me: just wow.

They blackout your home games and all nationally televised games (although there may be a carrier-exclusive deal worked out here and there).

It's a shame that the NHL signed such a long deal with NBC. I know it was just a couple years ago, but everything was so different then. I hope when their next deal comes around, the NHL is the first to abandon these stupid blackout restrictions.

Besides, if you stream it live, you're still watching the commercials.

The one I've got can stream - It's a couple seconds lagged via the built in wifi but supposedly instant live-feed via HDMI (untested, yet)

Actually what happened to Kleenex (and Google, and iPad) is what many companies want to _avoid_, because it lowers the value of the trademark. When your trademark becomes the generic word for something, it's more difficult to protect it against infringement.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_trademark

Yep...ever heard of Coutour? They've arguably got a better product because of their form factor that's less obnoxious to wear. But almost no one has heard of them whereas GoPro, as you point out, is synonymous with this type of video.

But there's another facet to this kind of marketing. Try contrasting videos like this that GoPro puts out for promotional purposes with the kinds of videos that the average person creates with a GoPro. These are fun to watch and full of unique views of cool stuff. The ones that average people create are, for the most part, boring. Yet their market is 99% people who make the boring kind of videos. If their marketing showed the kinds of videos that most people would be creating, no one would buy them. By showing videos like this, they get people inspired enough to think that they can shoot something cool.

I agree completely. Rogers (or whoever the consortium that bought the Canadian broadcast rights) has added a number of new camera angles to their broadcast this year. Some are gimmicky. But others really let you experience the game in a new way. For instance, because they have a wire cam, they now have an angle that chases an offensive play down the ice. You appreciate a lot of the nuances more when you're not stuck in the nosebleeds at center. And you appreciate the pace a lot more.

To be fair, sports content is also already heading in the direction other content is taking. I have NHL Gamecenter Live, for instance, which lets me watch all games timeshifted, select the home or away announcers, watch only the highlights, do relays, etc. Adding features like first-person POV this will only serve to enhance the non-broadcast experience further.

Indeed, the first time someone hits a goalie-mounted one of these with a slapshot from the blue line it's going to make people jump out of their seats.

> completely different experience of watching sports from a first-person perspective

This is from a crash in the Tour down Under earlier today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py_7pYVF664&feature=youtu.be

Kleenex, Xerox, Google... They hate it because it dilutes the trademark but it will happen anyway.

Totally agree - 3D is a fn gimmick. Hockey goalie view is the only scenario i can currently think of that would make me really want to use it. GoPRO I'm here for you if you want help in implementing :)

Yes, those have been great to see. But a live stream, similar to F1 would be a huge step forward and make the viewing more engaging to a larger audience.

It probably depends greatly on the sport. American Football seems particularly well suited to first person speciation, given there are only about 11 minutes of actual gameplay in a 3 hour broadcast - there is already a lot of detailed replay after you've seen the bigger picture. There are also lots of individual sports where the big picture isn't as important to understanding what's happening, where a mix of first and third person sounds pretty exciting - skiing, maybe tennis if it isn't too disorienting, for example. And some team sports have predictable moments where the big picture is not necessary, like the pitch and swing in baseball.

Plus, if first person is compelling enough, sports may adapt to be a better fit, especially if they suffer from competition with sports that are already well suited to that type of spectation.

You certainly wouldn't want to watch the whole game that way, but it can make for some interesting replays. When the player made a terrible or great play, it could quite a bit of insight to see the game the way that they saw it.

It could make for interesting cutaway shots or PIP, but as you said, it would only be useful from time to time.

Previous footage I have watched of football players (American) is very disorienting, and the field of vision is very narrow with a helmet mounted camera. It looks like the player has tunnel vision. However, a player's eyes will dart back and forth very quickly taking in a much bigger picture, so you aren't really seeing what they are truly seeing.

The Madden video games implemented a first person perspective (I haven't played for a long time, so not sure if they still have it), and it was nearly impossible for me to play in that mode. You don't have any peripheral vision using that mode, and that same problem will exist for these live sport shots.

I think this depends on the game. You could probably watch 90% of a tennis match from a single player’s viewpoint and not miss much. The other issue is how well you can switch views. Basketball is probably way to fast paced, but you could watch most of a baseball game from a pitchers viewpoint, and only switch to the overview after a big hit/bunt etc which takes long enough that a camera operator can easily follow things. Stealing bases which is normally a fairly borning part of the game would also be much more interesting with a more limited view.

Football would be somewhere between those extremes.

Hockey probably works well from a ref's viewpoint as they try and watch the action, but stand far enough back to get decent coverage.

It's an interesting idea. Will GoPro someday evolve to a "Google-Street-View-esque" camera that sits atop your head and records your entire world in real time. The with Oculus Rift, populate a view so that you can look wherever, which would things like the video in the article less disorienting?

The future sounds crazy.

An Oculus Rift virtual reality view so you feel like you are there, and a Microsoft HoloLens "holographic" view of the ice rink projected onto your tabletop. Lots of interesting possibilities...

Good, anything they can do to make it more like going to the game will help. I would dearly like live views off the ref cams. It might (note I said might) help the folks see things for penalties and such.