Hopscotch, a mobile application platform developer, has announced its creation of fan engagement apps for dozens of collegiate programs, many of which will launch soon.
Schools that have Hopscotch apps going live this football season include Oregon, Auburn, Baylor, Ole Miss and Michigan State. The news aggregation app will cover every sport in a given school’s program — from football to baseball to field hockey.
“College [sports] has the most passionate fanbase,” Hopscotch CEO Laurence Sotsky said. “That’s the crown jewel of passionate sports fans. It’s kinda an advertiser’s dream — lots of women, lots of affluent fans, lots of homeowners, those are the things that advertisers are really looking for.”
Users are able to utilize this app both in-venue and at home or elsewhere.
At home, it’s like your standard sports aggregation application, but with more team related content rather than user- or journalist-generated content.
“I think the main difference between our app and other sports content aggregators is that we have the official voice of the college,” Sotsky said. “So this is actually our schools presenting our athletic department’s news with their own voice, with their own tone, to their own fans.”
In-venue, the app has the capability to send users push notifications to order ahead of time and pick up their food at an express lane.
In addition, it basically knows where you are at all times, in-stadium, a feature that can also be disabled. For instance, at Ole Miss, Hopscotch has set up 300 beacons in its football stadium that can it geolocate your every step. They know things like if you’re a season ticket holder and the moment you step into a stadium, where they can “give you a specialized welcome message.”
In that same ilk, the application can also geofence where you are in the world — say Hong Kong — then send you the locations of bars and or festivities relating to your team in your area.
