Hockey parents may soon be able to leave the video camera at home when they head down to the arena to watch their children play.
Hockey Calgary is in talks to be the first minor hockey association in the country to have local arenas outfitted with digital cameras that would allow parents to pay a subscription fee for access to live streaming high definition video of all their kids’ games.
The videos would feature seven different camera angles and would be indexed by several categories including periods, goals, powerplays, bodychecks and saves for later viewing.
“This could be the beta site for this brand new, innovative, never been done before anywhere else concept,” said Perry Cavanagh, president of Hockey Calgary.
“The development opportunities are huge from a coaching point of view. You can freeze-frame, back up, there’s telestrator functionality, you can look at it from multiple different angles. And it’s in high def.”
Games would also be viewable on smart phones and live updates could be e-mailed and sent on Twitter and Facebook.
A company called In The Play is looking to launch the video package in a few initial sites across North America. Hockey Calgary is on the short list to be the first Canadian city to install the program.
On Monday, Calgary’s minor hockey association sent out a survey to all members to gauge interest and ask for a suggestions on a reasonable subscription rate.
In The Play would install all the cameras and equipment for free and ask for reimbursement through fees. Hockey Calgary and the arenas would receive a portion of the fees as an added revenue source.
Cavanagh said the fee hasn’t been set yet but could be about $100 to $200 a year, or possibly more. There may also be a variety of game packages.
“Maybe a subscription will allow you to get to see all of your children’s games for an entire season including tournaments and/or Esso Minor Hockey week and/or city championships,” said Cavanagh.
“You’re playing a 20-game season, maybe it’s $5 a game, so it works out to a subscription fee of $100 or maybe it’s $10 a game, I don’t know, maybe the market’s willing to go $20 a game.”
Cavanagh said he was first approached by In The Play in 2009 but Hockey Calgary won’t go forward unless members signal they want the program in the surveys that were e-mailed Monday.
Responses are expected back in about a month and if the feedback is positive, a recommendation will be made at the annual general meeting in June.
The launch is targeted for the 2012-13 hockey season.
One of the spin-off uses for the video could be in viewing replays for disciplinary hearings.
Although Cavanagh ruled out in-game video review like they have in the NHL, with a reliable multi-angle video feed available, officials holding disciplinary hearings could use it to support their decision making.
“It wouldn’t be done on each and every call or at every request,” said Cavanagh. “It would be a tool that could be used for the more severe ones.”
Calgary Herald
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