It was announced this week that STATS LLC has partnered with LeTV Sports to provide SportVU tracking technology to the International Champions Cup played in China this year.
STATS LLC, being one of the world’s most innovative sports technology companies will provide their SportVU technology to the Chinese online sports broadcasters in an attempt to create a “richer viewing experience,” according to the STATS blog.
In recent times we have seen SportVU and similar forms of technology become vital to the success of professional sporting teams. Coaches and staff use the information provided by the technology to make informed decisions on how to structure a healthy training schedule.
However, in this instance, the system is not specifically for the sporting teams. Those tuning in to LeTV sports to watch the Champions Cup this year will be able to benefit from “on-air player tracking statistics including team and player possession stats, player run comparisons (to measure the distances and pace run by individual players), and player heat maps (to illustrate the areas of the pitch where individual players spent most time),” just to name a few.
These statistics will be shown in the form of simplified graphics and incorporated into LeTV’s broadcast at all three venues throughout the competition.
Executive Vice-President at STATS, Bill Squadron, said that “Chinese soccer fans will gain a deeper understanding of the action with speed profiles, accumulated distances, possession data and coverage maps all in real-time”.
SportVU utilizes a system that involves athletes wearing small tracking devices during their training and/or matches. The players are also filmed by unique SportVU cameras which, combined, with the tracking devices, assemble the information that will be broadcasted by LeTV.
The technology has been used in a variety of sports including football, baseball, soccer and basketball (where STATS is the official Player Tracking Partner of the NBA).
What makes this deal so intriguing is that it will take place in China. Although the nation has the largest population in the world, it often finds itself being neglected in terms of gaining international exposure in the sporting industry.
Many of the world’s biggest and most successful sporting competitions like the National Football League, National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball and English Premier League have monstrous followings in China and it’s Asian surroundings.
This is an excellent chance for China to prove to the rest of the world that it is capable of hosting a competition like the Champions Cup, and the technology that STATS is providing has the ability to turn heads around the globe.
It is an exciting time for China’s sports industry, simply due to the fact that if the Champions Cup partnership is successful, it has the potential to open all kinds of doors for international broadcasting and analytics.
The fact that a company solely focused on providing professional sports teams with useful information has been able to branch out and utilize more than one purpose for their technology means that sports all around the world can change the way they are viewed at home.
With broadcasters already paying outrageous amounts of money to own the rights to the world’s largest sporting events, it will be interesting to observe the effects this kind of technology can have on that landscape.