This season, Fox Sports was the first to offer a live, virtual reality presentation of a college football game. On Dec. 3, the network will offer another first, this time for the Big Ten Football Championship Game: GoPro cameras installed in the hats of referees.
First tested at the Nov. 26 Wisconsin vs. Minnesota Big Ten game, the live, in-game footage captured from referees’ perspective will be available to viewers online as video clips, and as its own stream on Fox Sports Go. The perspectives will be used as a replay tool during the live broadcast, according to a Fox Sports spokesperson.
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“This is the continuing challenge we’ve taken on all year,” said Michael Davies, Fox Sports senior VP of technical and field operations. “It’s in our Fox Sports DNA to constantly challenge our team to come up with new and interesting ways to enhance the viewing experience, bring fans closer to the action and make the story of sports even more compelling … this project with GoPro accomplishes all of that.”
The tech arm of the network, Fox Sports Lab, designed the camera set-up in cooperation with GoPro, and aims to incorporate it into games next year, with potential ad sales applications.
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“GoPro changed the world by unlocking new perspectives of sports that put viewers into the middle of the action," said Todd Ballard, VP of global sports entertainment marketing for GoPro. “We’ve been looking forward to enabling the GoPro POV from the gridiron, and are excited to see how Fox Sports chooses to showcase these perspectives during the Big Ten Football Championship — both in the broadcast and on social media."
