With Google’s announcement in April of 2012 of their latest and greatest product, Google Glass, one can only wonder how long it will take for it to be utilized all throughout the different sectors of American society. The sports world, which is becoming more and more tech-savvy by the second, seems to be keen on implementing Google Glass very soon, or at least the fans are, considering the type of interactive environment it would create that fans thoroughly enjoy.
One of the biggest areas fans are buzzing about is the use of Google Glass in the NHL. The NHL has been very slow in terms of implementing technology to enhance the fan experience, especially in relation to how fans at home watch the game. There are still plenty of complaints from NHL fans at home claiming they can’t follow the puck, the game moves too fast, the cameras don’t follow the puck well, etc.
Well, with Google Glass, it seems NHL fans have sparked up again, clamoring for the NHL to install Google Glass cameras on the heads of NHL players so that they can view the hockey game from a totally new and more personal level. For fans of the NHL, and sports in general, it’s all about being more connected with the game, and Google Glass seems to be capable of doing that. If Google Glass could be successfully implemented into the players’ gear, fans could hear and see everything going on in the game, from every player’s perspective.
You can’t really ask for a more personal connection than that. However, that’s all that’s been discussed with Google Glass in the NHL, its just talk. No real action has been taken by the NHL to implement Google Glass, and it seems like none will be taken until, at the very least, Google Glass’s release (Google Glass has only been tested in an Explorer Program in the beginning of 2013 and has not been sold commercially), which is projected to now be sometime in 2014.
In analyzing the features of Google Glass, there are many more ways it can be utilized in the NHL besides the addition of a new camera view. While the new camera view would be a great innovation to the viewing of NHL games, it’s merely a start into what this new invention of Google’s can do.
One of the cool features of Google Glass is its hands free communication and and ability to display information for you in front of your eyes while you’re going about your day. With the simple addition of a wireless connection to a projector, this feature can provide fans that are at the game with a whole new viewing experience.
If Shatter Proof Glass is installed around the NHL, and either attached to Google Glass software or made into a projector connected to the Google Glass video projection, someone sitting in the booths upstairs could ask Google Glass to project stats from the game going on, other games going on around the league, video replays, etc, and show them on the glass for fans to view during timeouts with a slow rotating view so fans all around the arena could see everything being projected.
As well as enhancing the fans’ experience of the NHL, Google Glass can help out the coaches and referees. If coaches were equipped with Google Glass headsets, they can use them to keep track of stats and line changes by simply asking Google Glass to display them right before their eyes, allowing them to simultaneously watch the game unfold in front of them and keep track of their team’s stats.
Referees can also employ Google Glass by using the video projection features to watch replays of goals and fights instantly, cycling through the different camera views quickly to be able to determine, even more accurately, what the correct calls are in each situation.
As one can see, Google Glass can be implemented in many different ways throughout the NHL to enhance both the viewing experience for the fans and the handling of the game for the coaches. With the addition of this new gadget to the NHL, all those complaints by the fans at home would cease, and fans both at the game and at home would feel even more involved and connected to the game and their teams than ever before.
Google Glass’s release sometime in 2014 will mark not only the next big thing in technology, but also potentially the next big tech advancement utilized in sports.