On Feb. 5, viewers who tuned into Canal+'s broadcast of the Euroleague Game of the Week between Spanish clubs Barcelona and Real Madrid were able to see the action from the perspective of the game's referees. The new view resulted from a collaboration between the league, Canal+ and Barcelona-based tech company First V1sion, which created shirts featuring micro-cameras transmitting live images of the game. The 270-gram shirts worn by the referees that night had previously been tested by Barcelona players during a practice. The use of First V1sion's technology follows the league's experiment with Google Glass last April. Euroleague Brand & Communications Dir ALEX FERRER spoke to SBD Global about the league's emphasis on technology, the int'l media attention that came Euroleague's way after announcing it would use the jersey cams and attracting new fans.
On the excitement of using a new technology... Alex Ferrer: It's a very exciting time. It's something different, something you've never seen before. It's a new way of watching basketball. ... It's a new way of seeing the action. With the referees, we already saw a couple of tests before. We ourselves did one with the Google Glass last year, but obviously it was not for live broadcasting, it was only for post-production.
On how the collaboration with Canal+ and First V1sion came together... Ferrer: First of all, a couple months ago we got a proposal from Canal+. They had some contact with First V1sion and they were very interested in the product they had, this jersey cam. They wanted to test it and hopefully use it in a professional game, in an official game. On the other side, we were also in touch with First V1sion since we had some common contacts that made the conversation very easy. ... We met, we saw the product and we instantly fell in love with the jersey cams and started brainstorming about how we could do it together.
Alex Ferrer Source: Euroleague Basketball
On how First V1sion's technology works... Ferrer: They are providing the shirts. They have the reception devices that are installed in the backboards. Those are getting the feed and sending it to the production van of Canal+. From there it works as a normal camera. ... The shirt is a 270-gram shirt with the lens in the front and the mic. It has a battery in the back and a transmission device as well in the back. It's very light and very convenient.
On Euroleague's emphasis on technology... Ferrer:It's a matter of priorities. Our priority has always been, and especially in the last year, to look for different, innovative and better ways to reach fans and to capture the attention not only of the fans we have, but of other sports fans. This is only a small part of what we are doing to improve the experience of the fans watching the Euroleague games. This has been a priority for the last seasons. We are constantly looking for new opportunities. We are very keen on testing new things and we are not afraid of testing things that afterwards are not used anymore.
On media attention Euroleague has received... Ferrer: We are getting a lot of attention, probably more now than last year, I would say [for the use of Google Glass]. ... The Euroleague is an important league in Europe and it normally gets high attention and regular attention in our core markets. You notice a difference when media outlets from out of Europe, from the States, from Asia, get interest in these kind of stories. This is what is happening now. This is what happened with the Google Glass. We're getting a lot of attention from countries that are not our core markets.
On the value of that exposure... Ferrer: This might work as a hook, definitely. We know our product is great. For anyone who loves basketball, we are sure that if you watch a Euroleague game, you will fall in love with our game. We have great competition, great brands, great clubs. ... We have big brands in the world of sports and obviously things like this are positioning us as an innovative and trendy property, a trendy brand. It is capturing the attention of people who normally don't look at us. It might be an opportunity to get them to love the Euroleague, or at least start watching it.
