VIRTUAL GAMEDAY The Capitals’ Virtual Gameday platform comes courtesy of provider Kiswe, a brand that has worked on numerous sports offerings and other live entertainment. “Kiswe’s expertise is to handle content with our fully remote tools, distribute it, and even produce new content based on fan contributions,” explains Kiswe CEO, Mike Schabel. “It’s a full 360 fan experience.
digital platform, the CHL decided to make the most of what it had, says Reinhard. “Even without games, we still had to be there for our fans, so we launched ‘re-live’ games on what would have been our game days. We were limited on access to all games on a rights level, but we have been showing them from our first three seasons. In addition to that, we looked at other content we’d
already created, like behind- the-scenes moments, and we refreshed those,” she explains. The CHL took a simple approach to hosting this content on its website and YouTube. Its social media has also been crucial, because without games, many people may not think to check the website. “Whatever is needed we pull from our cloud-based media archive, and archived footage is stored there immediately after games. In more ordinary times, it’s available for all of our
“We’ve developed all of our production, video distribution and fan engagement software in-house. Our solution is cloud- native and we adjust the capacity of our system elastically to support the real-time demand. Thoughtful broadcasting and tools like this can even make events special for fans at home, and it’s something we’ll continue to do now and far into the future.”
IF COVID-19 HAS SHOWN US ALL SOMETHING, IT’S THAT BEING FLEXIBLE IS VITAL
EUROPEAN FREEZE While the NHL is in the lucky position of playing games sans audience, things haven’t resumed to the same degree for Europe’s Champions Hockey League. After a thrilling end to the season in February 2020 – one of the final leagues in the world to complete its schedule – the CHL’s following season was subject to a complete cancellation. “On top of the issues the national leagues had to deal with is the additional challenge of teams travelling between 13 countries,” explains CHL communications and digital media director, Monika Reinhard. “It’s our goal to come back for the 2021/22 season. It’s just not feasible to have a second season cancelled – this has been a huge financial burden.” Certainly, as much heart and soul as these teams and leagues have, they are still organisations that need sponsorship. For a large part, that sponsorship is reliant on you, the viewer. With no live games and no opportunity to capitalise with a supplementary
broadcasters, which is a pretty huge requirement, with up to 16 games in parallel on one day,” says Reinhard. “The numbers are similar to our off-season levels, but it’s just not comparable to a month with games, because that’s what fans love the most.” She adds: “On top of the content, we’ve been engaging with fans, running quizzes through a Facebook Messenger-based tool and offering prizes, including a special jersey to commemorate this strange season. “It’s been tough, because without money from the TV sponsors, we haven’t been able to put much back into content production. Still, I’m proud of what we’ve been able to do and fans are responding well.” Reinhard is optimistic about the upcoming season and future. She concludes: “We do need to keep searching for solutions, and I think if Covid-19 has shown us all something – not just in sports – it’s that being flexible is vital.”
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