SEATTLE—Sports and statistics go hand-in-hand, but some sports organizations are taking the data behind the statistics to a whole new level, leveraging edge-computing cloud resources, data analytics and a variety of other tools to keep fans, players, coaches, officials and others better informed than ever.

Consider the National Hockey League. Fans watching a game on TV are seeing graphics that identify shots on goal from a specific zone on the ice and how many turn into goals, said David Lehanski, executive vice president of business development and innovation at the NHL, during an online press conference hosted Oct. 26 by Amazon AWS. But what about the quality of those shots?

“The next step is to start to add some analytics around the quality [and] start [to] tell the story that not all shots are the same,” he said.

Lehanski was joined by Andreas Heyden, CEO of DFL Digital Sports, which is responsible for Bundesliga (German Football League) media, and Rob Smedley, director of data system at Formula 1 Management. The three discussed how enhanced data collection and processing using the suite of cloud solutions from AWS is enhancing fan engagement and how players and coaches access and evaluate ongoing contests.

On The Ice
The NHL has invested “a significant amount of time and capital” to deploy a tracking system that generates data as frequently as 50 times per second to track the location of players and the puck at every moment of the game, creating “a million new data points per game,” said Lehanski. 

For fans, the data is helping the league’s broadcast partners to tell better stories about games as they unfold. The data brings new perspectives to the action and is helping to “transform the fan experience” when combined with video, he said.

For players and coaches, the data is generating stats in real-time that are helping improve their understanding of what’s happening in the game. “You’ll see players literally come off the ice, and they’ll turn right around. They’ll grab the iPad, and they’ll pull up video content and data of what just transpired on the ice,” said Lehanski.

Important components of the tracking system are UHD encoders installed during the offseason in each of the 32 buildings where games are played. They enable several streams at the highest quality to be ingested and transported to the AWS cloud where data and video are aggregated, packaged for different users and pushed out as different content packages to various users. “The real magic can happen when the data and the video are aggregated as one,” said Lehanski.

Edge computing in the cloud has helped the NHL overcome any problems with latency that might otherwise slow the process and make all of this data less valuable, he added.

Fast Data
When it comes to cloud latency, the issue for DFL Digital Sports’ Heyden is there’s too little, he laughingly said.

“Our only problem with latency is that AWS services are so fast that we got complaints from our broadcasters that the push notifications are too fast because data travels faster than video,” said Heyden.

Among DFL Digital Sports’ recent efforts has been changing how it delivers sports data to its partners and how it can enrich its media products in an effort to engage fans more deeply in their favorite league teams.

For example, it has turned the speed of data to its advantage to serve as an alert of sorts on Saturdays when five games are simultaneously played. DFL Digital Sports switches between these games in a way similar to the NFL RedZone and leverages fast data to cue the cuts, he said.

“As data travels faster than video, we know that the goal is going to happen, so we can…point the video player in switching between the games before the goal is happening…to the next channel where then the customer is going to see the video [of the goal] with the latency of the video,” he said. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven solutions are also helping DFL Digital Sports deliver better content to its broadcast partners. For instance, AI and the cloud make it possible to send customized highlight cut-downs to broadcast partners in different parts of the world featuring fan favorites of the region mere moments after a game is over, said Heyden. 

Like the NHL, DFL Digital Sports is leveraging the data services of AWS not only to enhance game coverage but also to engage fans in innovative ways. It recently relied on AWS services to help it develop a fully General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)-compliant TikTok-like app to help fans keep up with their favorite teams.  

The average Bundesliga fan follows an average of four teams, and the league has 36 teams, which required DFL Digital Sports to create 65,000 individual taste profiles. With the help of AWS cloud tools, DFL Digital Sports built the app to help attract younger fans by delivering up-to-the-minute stats and info to their smart devices.

A Billion Combinations
Formula 1 is particularly well-positioned to use data to make races more understandable and better engage fans. On-car telemetry collected from Formula 1 car sensors, weather data, time and date data and other data sources literally create a billion or more combinations or data during a two-hour race. 

However, three years ago Formula 1 was failing to leverage that data effectively when it came to attracting and engaging fans, said the race league’s Smedley. To up its game and take advantage of all of that data, Formula 1 turned to AWS for a holistic solution for data gathering, processing and presentation.

“With Formula 1, sometimes you see 10% of the story. It’s very, very strategically deep as a sport.... The broadcast feed is only able to show a very small proportion of the track. [I]t’s a 5 kilometer track, and quite often… you’re only seeing a… few 100 meters. You’re only able to show one, two [or] three cars, whatever, in a shot,” he said.

However, partnering with AWS and presenting AWS Insights is making it possible for the auto sport to present a far bigger picture, tell better stories and make sense of races in a way that previously was not possible, said Smedley.

“I think it’s fair to say that…not all of the fan base, especially the athletes and the traditional fans,... really understood this very well,” Smedley said of the initial rollout. “Fast forward three years to where we are now, and if you took away that data… the fans [would have] a completely different viewing experience. So I… think that these [data insights] have become an essential tool for Formula 1.”

The AWS press conference was moderated by Usman Shakeel, head of solutions architecture for media and entertainment at Amazon Web Services.

More information is available on the AWS website. 

Live sports are back, just not as you remember them prior to the outbreak of COVID-19. This past weekend saw some of the first live, broadcast TV action of multiple sports, highlighted by the return of NASCAR, a PGA golf match for charity and the German Bundesliga professional soccer league.

NASCAR and Fox Sports worked together to bring the first of seven races over the next 11 days to TV viewers on May 17 at the Darlington Raceway in South Carolina. Kevin Harvick was the winner, and he acknowledged the different circumstances of the race, saying that he missed the fans in the stands.

NASCAR’s live race schedule continues on May 20 from Darlington, with other races scheduled up to May 27 at this point. Additional races are expected to be announced.

NBC Sports, meanwhile, was tasked with bringing live golf back to its airwaves on May 17 as well, just in a different format. Rather than a full-fledged tournament, top professionals Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolfe played a “teamed skins” competition at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla. The players carried their own bags, had an audio pack attached to capture their dialogue and practiced social distancing. 

The broadcast crew also adjusted to the new realities. Commentator Mike Tirico called the action remotely from his home in Michigan, while other commentators Rich Lerner, Paul Azinger and Gary Koch worked from the PGA Tour’s production facility in St. Augustine, Fla. On the course, a skeleton crew manned six cameras and utilized LiveU technology to capture the action. The broadcast also featured some call-in interviews, including Bill Murray and President Donald Trump.

PLUS: How Remote Production Can Help Get Live Sports Back on the Air Amid COVID-19

The skins match raised money for charity, with the winning team of McIlroy and Johnson earning $1.85 million for the American Nurses Foundation, and Fowler and Wolfe earning $1.15 million for the CDC. In addition, more than $5 million was donated by event partners and individual fans for COVID-19 relief efforts.

Another live golf match will take place on May 24—with Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady—before the PGA Tour is slated to return to its usual schedule (sans fans) in June.

Across the pond in Europe, Bundesliga, Germany’s professional soccer league, returned with live matches, again with safety guidelines for both players and broadcast crews, which included a limit of 300 people allowed in the stands among teams and staff, but no fans—though the league tried to address that by putting up cutouts of fans in the stands. 

Six games were held over the weekend, with Fox Sports’ broadcast of the Borussia Dortmund vs. Schalke match earning a record .33 rating. Bundesliga is expected to continue playing, and broadcasting, the remaining nine weeks of its season.

Fremont, CA - June 8, 2018 - Blackmagic Design today announced that the 2. Basketball-Bundesliga, Germany’s second tier national basketball league, has developed a live production workflow using broadcast infrastructure from Blackmagic Design to live stream matches from venues across the country.

Developed with support from Teltec AG, each of the sixteen portable production units (PPU) comprises two Micro Studio Camera 4K and a pair of Blackmagic Studio Cameras for acquisition, while an ATEM 2 M/E Production Studio 4K is used for vision mixing.

As a rights owner, the Basketball-Bundesliga partnered with OTT service airtango to facilitate the live streaming of league matches. “Not only did we want to broadcast matches online, we also wanted to produce highlights packages and coverage of press conferences as well as club news, which fans could access for free,” explains Daniel Müller, managing director, 2. Basketball-Bundesliga.

He continues: “From the outset we wanted to enable clubs to deliver the best digital experience possible. To ensure that content is treated with consistency we’ve standardized our production workflow around a PPU system that is powerful yet user friendly.”

Müller explains that each club takes responsibility for assembling its own production crew, and they are encouraged to create content that helps bring fans more exclusive access to the team and its progress. “Each system is incredibly intuitive and provides enough creative flexibility that means clubs can experiment with the type of content they produce on the court and off.”

Match action is acquired in 1080i/50 from a pair of cameras in courtside and steadycam positions, while two fixed camera positions above each hoop supply the ‘basketcam’ shots. Live signals are taken into a bespoke production rack, where the ATEM switcher brings together graphics, scoring overlays, commentary and ambient audio.

“To achieve this, the livestreams have to reflect the speed, tension and excitement on the court and translate it for an online audience, so our footage has to be fast paced and accurate,” explains Müller. “Delivering nationwide, broadcast quality livestreams has been a massive long term project, requiring careful planning, budgeting and training, and Blackmagic Design’s pricing, reliability and high quality production have been essential in its successful deployment.”

A live program mix from stadiums around Germany is then uploaded to airtango where multiple live games can be streamed concurrently.

“The OTT offering not only enables clubs to establish a direct relationship with their fans but also help us as a league to grow the sports fanbase throughout Germany in a way that was never previously possible,” concludes Müller. A good content strategy underpinned by the right technology providers such as Blackmagic Design will allow us to better understand fans and deepen engagement.”

Press Photography

Product photos of Blackmagic Studio Camera, Micro Studio Camera, ATEM 2 M/E Production Studio 4K and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.

LAGUNA BEACH, CALIF.—Fox Sports and NextVR are heading to the pitch, as the two have announced they will team on a live virtual reality broadcast of the opening match of the 2016/2017 Bundesliga season. The match will be played by Bayern München and Werder Bremen in Munich on Aug. 26.

Seven cameras will be placed throughout the stadium and field for the VR production, as well as audio commentary from Fox Sports soccer commentator Mark Rogondino and Bundesliga player Heath Pearce. Viewers can watch the VR broadcast for free in the Fox Sports portal of the NextVR platform that is compatible with Gear VR headsets.

Fox Sports and NextVR have previously collaborated on VR productions for other past sporting events, including the Daytona 500, a Premier Boxing Champions title fight, the Big East college basketball tournament, and the U.S. Open golf championship.

The match will be available internationally in the U.S., Canada, the Caribbean, Asia and select European countries, with a scheduled kick-off of 8:30 p.m. UCT.