THE OVAL BALL IS PUMPED UP - CAN THE ROUND BALL LEARN A THING OR TWO?

It’s early on a Sunday morning and I sit down with my hot brew of choice to watch the Rugby World Cup live from Japan. This competition has been a treat on many levels, from high energy, fast paced games, upsets of magnitude proportion with Ireland being given a lesson by host nation Japan in the early group stages. No doubt there will be more to come as we enter the knock out stages of the tournament. It is the first time the competition has been held in Asia, where it is globally broadcast and streamed to over 800 million households across 217 countries, in an attempt to grow the rugby family around the world. Live viewing figures alone in Japan have peaked at 40million viewers attracting a new fervent fanbase.

Before the competition started I viewed a video showcasing how the footage would be re-interpreted with additional cameras, viewing angles, and integrated data. The comment section on the website showed a plethora of rather dismissive remarks. Most of those who had bothered to reply compared the video content to a Play Station Game. For those not wanting the sport to move forward and embrace technological advances with the clever seamless integration of Augmented Reality, missed the point completely- all sports organizations today have a diverse range of fans to cater for. It is forecasted by 2025 there will be 2 Billion ‘Generation Alpha’ cohorts, dubbed ‘the children of millennials’ who will have grown up with a vast array of digital content whilst living in a connected household. This is the next generation that sports bodies need to attract by getting them to watch, and ultimately participate, for their respective sport to survive come 2025 onwards. With the rapid rise of other new entertainment genres such as E-sports with dedicated video channels and computer games such as the global phenomena ‘Fortnite’ and ‘Battle Royale’ all competing for entertainment viewing time for these younger audiences, popular sports need to embrace this new tech savvy generation who’s allegiance is harder to attract and retain.

There is a challenge brewing where this generation may not emotionally invest ‘fully’ in event-tv such as live sports programming compared to the traditional sports viewer of the past who had a staple diet of watching a game with pre-match build up, live event and post-match coverage. Sports organizations need to understand this generational transformation, and tap into new ways of telling the story of their sport. The Rugby World Cup have clearly got under the skin of who they wish to attract, marrying this to their ambitions to build the sport further globally using the Japan showcase as a timely pinnacle.

Lounging in my comfy armchair I am bombarded with a seamless range of programming, and production techniques cleverly interwoven into a fast paced narrative. International Games Broadcast Services (IGBS) have pushed the boundaries of live sports broadcasting and created a truly immersive rich viewing experience. With over 34 cameras offering a viewing experience in both 4K and 8K, with the ball coming at you in mid-air via Spider Cam, Hawk- Eye technology enabling events to be deconstructed, cleverly cut between live play and fans immediate reaction, it feels as if you are there living and breathing the match as I shout at the TV and see fellow Scottish fans and Japanese scream out in tandem. In addition the superb commentary from ITV Sport guest hosts Sir Ian McGeehan, Bryan Habana, Sam Warburton, Jim Hamilton clearly deconstructed the games key points so a layman could easily comprehend. It was refreshing to see unbiased viewpoints just marveling in the spectacular they were watching, thus adding to the specialness of the event.

For a sport that was often at pedestrian pace when I viewed it as a kid, it is now at lightning speed largely due in part to the immense fitness levels of the players but also via the use of new technology and production techniques. The coverage cleverly captures close ups as in a break of play you see players deep breathing like Bulls. Within this 20 second period of much needed downtime as the Referee checks an infringement, the myriad of camera angles show the interaction of both teams, the referee, supplemented with fan reaction. This is live sport captured beautifully like Drama storytelling, showcasing all the positional play with shots of throw ins to aerial cams swooping down capturing the ball spiralling through the air for a conversion. The constant superfast replays of tries from various different angles simply add to the pace and intensity of the game. My viewing experience is enhanced with interwoven Augmented Reality featuring team lineups, team stats, and player comparisons.

Alas after 80 mins of enthralling end- to- end Rugby, my team Scotland put up a valiant display but are overpowered by the exciting play of the home nation as they march on to play the Spring Boks in the Quarter Finals. Hats off to the organisers, World Rugby, and IGBS, they will no doubt win a plethora of coveted awards for the hosting and production of this event.

As an avid sports fan it got me thinking that perhaps the round football feels a bit deflated in comparison to the oval ball as I am used to the same camera angles, pundit commentary, and somewhat biased views from ex Coaches or former Players who simply lambast the teams they haven’t played for. Don’t get me wrong I love Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher with their candid analysis on Sky Sports Monday Night Football and the informative discussion/ debate it generates. Neville in particular has been transformative in his forthright views, commentary and sardonic take on the beautiful game, effectively highlighting how a team can improve and not mincing his words on stating which individuals need to step up.

The Rugby World Cup’s immersive viewing experience to attract a younger viewing audience to the rugby family with brilliant deconstruction of the unfolding drama visually via increased camera angles, informed commentary, continual fan reaction and more interwoven data in the coverage maybe a subtle addition to Football’s live production going forward. With all the money sloshing around football there is no excuse for that not to be invested to experiment further in new techniques and take weekly live football coverage to the next dimension with some tweaks in production. To be fair I am being controversial here, Premier League live coverage has been so innovative with introducing the Spider Cam in 2017, UHD games via Sky Q, and trailblazing event coverage with the multitude of camera angles from the get-go to set the blueprint for all to follow. Similarly during the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, Host Broadcast Service (HBS) set the template in producing/ broadcasting all games in UHD with similar number of cameras as this year’s Rugby World Cup needed to capture all the action across all viewpoints.

Filming and producing a live sports event is an extremely complex process with huge infrastructure investment coupled with many hours preparing the logistics. As a viewer we are unaware that a series of cameras will be shooting in 4K format, HDR, SDR, Super Slow Motion, Wide lens for Cinematic View, Ultra Motion cameras used for Hawk-Eye and Video assistant referee (VAR), Cameras at Corners, Tunnel Cameras etc. and now others for 8K format experimentation. I imagine trying to replicate this week in week out comes with a huge investment in time, financial outlay, coupled with the challenge that a fair proportion of stadium present technical challenges to create a truly picture perfect viewing experience that is reserved for the big one-off pinnacle world sport events.

In addition, all sports are different- the pace of today’s football game is immense- just watch the speed and intricate movement of Liverpool’s Salah, Firmino and Mane pressing forward. Trying to capture coverage from all angles and not missing a beat of the action is a tough ask. In football, with the exception of kick off, a free kick, and a goal kick, the action is pretty much end-to-end stuff, so the opportunities to re-cap key moments is more limited compared to its counterpart Rugby.

Nevertheless as sports organizations attempt to attract a new generation of fans, advancements need to continue. With wearable technology providing data for sports statistical analysis, more specialized cameras offering fans greater selection of on field viewpoints, perhaps all connected via mobile phone usage in the stadium there is huge opportunity to create further fan engagement both within the stadium experience and also raising the bar with the viewing experience at home.

For some sports purists the so called ‘PS4’ coverage might be too much but I look forward to watching a live televised Saturday evening or Super Sunday live on Sky Sports from the Emirates Stadium, seeing a free kick coming at me as Arsenal’s Lacazette puts his foot through his laces, the ball is microchipped and I see the velocity as he scores a wonder 30 yard goal. Or imagine a world of ‘Ball Cam’ flying through the air as the goalkeeper attempts to save- one can marvel and dream!

This is only one part of the armory in creating greater engagement as sport organizations attempt to connect with new audiences and build their product on a global scale (I leave that for another day). As we move into 2020, I look forward from the vantage point of my comfy armchair to what the Olympics from Tokyo will bring. Live sports coverage will no doubt continue to be further redefined, coupled with new digital content, all in a bid to capture the attention of a younger generation and offer us an even more compelling viewing spectacular.

David Booth is a Global Media Executive who likes to blog, strategize and talk about Sports & Entertainment content.