GoPro and the Business of Sports

The new GoPro has quickly made its way into the sports arena, becoming one of the most popular cameras due to its clear quality and smooth abilities to capture rapid action. Between snowboarding, skiing, and now football, the GoPro is making a solid impression. Recently, the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals became the latest team to embrace the power of the GoPro, believing it will enhance their opportunities to study gameplay footage. The cameras are strapped to the helmets of players where recorded video is later analyzed. “These cameras have been used with great success in extreme sports like X Games, Red Bull and surfing,” says “Monday Night Football” producer Jay Rothman. “So we felt there was an opportunity to integrate these same point of view cameras into mainstream sports, and specifically on MNF.” The GoPro camera has also made its way onto the ice, signing a deal with the National Hockey League (NHL) who plans to use camera footage in promo campaigns, online reels and television broadcasts, giving hockey fans insight into the varying POVs of their favorite players. Anyone who has ever wondered what it's like to streak down the ice, swirling the puck at 100 miles per hour towards a guarded net will now have the opportunity to experience it firsthand through the eyes of athletes like Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks and Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers. GoPro isn't only reserved for professional sports. The revolutionary camera is also being used as a training tool in Little League practice. Chris Lopez, a youth baseball coach in Carlsbad, California is utilizing the GoPro as a means of engaging and training his young players. "As a coach and as a dad I know my limits,” Lopez says. “The players have an attention span of about five seconds. Pull out the GoPro… and all of a sudden they're engaging and it's a lot of fun.” The footage is later shown to the team to analyze what they need to improve. The GoPro obviously exhibits a high range of uses, and is proving to be a vital tool in the competitive universe. Ask any athlete and they'll probably tell you that the GoPro is here to stay for quite a while.