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Hockey fans are some of the most passionate and tech-savvy fans in the sports world, and the NHL® has partnered with Cisco technology to empower them with the information they crave. Fans can follow their favorite NHL® team in real-time through streaming video, interviews, recaps, highlights, real-time statistics, and more. Cisco content delivery offerings are helping the NHL® serve up fan experiences no matter where they are watching—in the arena, through the Internet, or on the television.
Hockey fans are embracing all of these new features, and the NHL® is advancing as quickly as the technology. For the seventh consecutive season, the NHL® posted record revenue and growth across multiple business platforms.
The infographic below shows how the Cisco-NHL® partnership expands the reach of the game for fans by surrounding them with the information they want, how they want it, when they want it.
Tags: Fan Experience, NHL, sports, video, videoscape
“The value that we are receiving from Cisco StadiumVision far outweighs just a financial investment. We can easily justify it financially, but the value to our brand identity is immeasurable. We can demonstrate to sponsors and fans that they gain a far better experience, and there is not a more effective way to do it.”
David Peart, Senior Vice President of Sales and Service, CONSOL Energy Center
As many sports organizations are finding out today, technology is a strategic investment, not an expense. The return on that investment can be immediate, powerful, and often the dividends end up reshaping the approach to fan engagement, sales, advertising and sponsorship.
The state-of-the-art CONSOL Energy Center, which opened in 2010, is home to the Pittsburgh Penguins and approximately 170 ticketed events per year. In the planning and building process, the venue decided to install a Cisco Connected Stadium platform to operate Cisco StadiumVision, an innovative digital video and content distribution system that centrally controls and delivers targeted high-definition video and highly relevant digital content to guests. The venue put 781 HD screens and 44 digital menu boards throughout its 18,000+ seat venue, and over the course of the last year the system has paid incredible dividends.
Today the Penguins are reporting that the team and facility have seen a 200% increase in the number of advertisers and a 300% increase in concourse advertising and sponsorship revenues – all directly related to StadiumVision.
Perhaps even more valuable is that the Penguins young, highly connected fan base has had a more memorable and impactful brand experience with 80 percent of fans retaining the digital content they viewed.
“We understood the capabilities of Cisco StadiumVision when it was purchased, but it completely changed our way of thinking to ‘now what else can we do with it?’ The more interactive we become with the StadiumVision system, the more often new things come to mind. Advertising is a moving target, and the Cisco StadiumVision system gives us the ability to innovate at a more rapid pace over time.”
Erik Watts, Senior Director, Technology, Pittsburgh Penguins
What a powerful statement – Cisco technology fostering a wellspring of new ideas and creative capabilities…it orchestrated a shift in the mindset of the organization, thereby setting them on a new course to greater profitability and opportunity.
Later this week, keep a look out for a follow-up post and video on another marquee venue here in the United States seeing incredible returns from this Cisco Sports & Entertainment technology consultation and deployment.
As David Holland said in his last post we have reached a tipping point.
Tags: Anabelle Pinto, Cisco Sports & Entertaiment, Cisco stadiumvision, David Holland, NHL, Pittsburgh Penguins
Today is Grou 
ndhog Day, and just like the Bill Murray movie by the same name, we’re going to relive this past weekend’s NHL Fan Fair event over again!
Our Cisco ūmi “Get Together” Mobile Tour made a stop at the NHL Fan Cave at the NHL Fan Fair event in Raleigh, NC on January 28 – 30. The idea was to connect fans with NHL hockey players at the NHL Fan Cave via Cisco ūmi, a consumer telepresence system that brings family and friends to your living room through your existing HDTV. We chatted with families about their experience and everyone agreed: Cisco ūmi has great audio and video quality! Fans expressed their excitement about using our tour van big screen HD television to talk to the players they watch and root for throughout the year. Many said it felt like the players were right there in person. Others thought Cisco ūmi would be a great way to stay in touch with family across the country and show off their kids as they grow up.
To see more reactions to Cisco ūmi, check out t his video taken at the NHL Fan Cave at the NHL Fan Fair event!
Read More »
Tags: Cisco umi, get together, groundhog day, Hockey, NHL, NHL Fan Fair, umiv, video calling
Cisco ūmi is embarking on a road trip today which will take us through California, North Carolina, New York and Washington, DC. During the Cisco ūmi “Get Together” Mobile Tour, we’ll be attending some great events, and we’re excited to get out and share the ūmi experience with even more of you!
Just imagine if you could wave to your mom from the Surf City Marathon finish line—even if she’s all the way across the country! And how about video chatting in such high definition that your friends can almost smell the glass of wine in your hand at the New York Wine Expo? Or celebrate a great win (or talk a little smack) with NHL fans around the country at the NHL Fan Fair event starting tomorrow, January 28, 2011 to Sunday, January 30, 2011.
Whether you’re sipping wine, catching a wave, running your heart out or cheering on your favorite NHL players, stop by the tour bus and check out the new way to be together. Cisco is the Official Technology Partner of both the NHL & NBA so look for ūmi at both their properties!
We’ll show you all the cool things you can do with ūmi and you can give it a whirl!
Make sure to stop by ths weekend to see which NHL player Cisco ūmi is bringing to you at the Cisco ūmi at the NHL Fan Cave!
We look forward to seeing you there!
Tags: Cisco umi, get together, NHL, nhl all star, nhl fan cave, TelePresence, ūmi, video
On Tuesday, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman used Cisco TelePresence technology to speak with reporters in NYC, San Jose and Toronto while in Palm Beach, Fla., during the NHL Board of Governors meeting.
This marked the first time that a professional sports commissioner has utilized Cisco TelePresence technology to host a multi-city press conference.
He opened the session by announcing the league had renewed and expanded a multiyear partnership with Cisco, which will feature our technology solutions in key video-dependent areas such as hockey operations, business operations, marquee events and direct-to-consumer applications.
Commissioner Bettman also announced that Flip video cameras will feature logos from all 30 NHL teams.
The NHL Flip video cameras are available to order here.
Videos from the event are featured below. Video blogs from Cisco’s Diane Dudeck, senior director of worldwide media and sports marketing, and David Lehanski, NHL Group Vice President, are also included. Read More »
Tags: Flip, NHL, TelePresence, video
