The NHL has partnered with Sony’s Hawk-Eye to reinforce officiating and fan engagement via participant monitoring, digital broadcasts, and potential VR experiences.
NHL Hawk-Eye Deal
The NHL is doubling down on Hawk-Eye know-how, signing a multi-year cope with Sony to combine superior monitoring instruments that might dramatically alter officiating choices and fan experiences throughout the game.
The league’s new settlement makes Sony an official NHL know-how associate, increasing Hawk-Eye’s affect past on the spot replay and into real-time monitoring, participant analysis, and immersive digital content material — together with automated offsides critiques and VR fan experiences.
“This partnership now canvases throughout their complete firm in a means that’s going to have an effect on everybody in our group,” stated David Lehanski, NHL EVP of enterprise growth and innovation.
What’s Hawk-Eye Know-how in Hockey?
Hawk-Eye Improvements has revolutionized officiating in numerous sports activities, most notably tennis and cricket, and is now serving to the NHL map each movement on the ice. Utilizing 60-frames-per-second optical monitoring programs, Hawk-Eye tracks:
29 factors on every participant
3 factors on each stick
This information fuels greater than replays — it powers real-time visualizations, efficiency analytics, and shortly, could help automated rule enforcement, together with offsides and goal-line calls.
All 32 NHL arenas at the moment are geared up with the Hawk-Eye setup, enabling league-wide standardization of monitoring capabilities.
Will the NHL Use AI for Offsides and Objective Evaluations?
Sure — or at the least, it’s below severe consideration.
The league is evaluating whether or not Hawk-Eye’s participant monitoring information can assist real-time automated officiating for each offside infractions and aim confirmations.
However hockey’s velocity and fluidity pose distinctive challenges in comparison with sports activities like soccer or soccer. In accordance with the NHL, they’re nonetheless testing feasibility.
Nonetheless, the imaginative and prescient is evident: sooner, extra correct officiating choices powered by know-how that’s already confirmed itself in different main leagues, together with the NFL and European soccer.
How Does NHL Participant Monitoring Enhance Fan Expertise?
This isn’t nearly officiating. The Hawk-Eye growth may redefine hockey viewing at residence.
Right here’s what followers can count on:
Child-friendly animated broadcasts, already in use
Digital actuality evaluation, the place analysts like PK Subban enter immersive, 360-degree replays
Internet-based interactive experiences, letting followers management digital camera angles and even “replay” large performs themselves
Gaming integrations, comparable to Roblox activations (which noticed over 1 million customers of their first month)
Sony plans to leverage its broader ecosystem — from PlayStation VR to Sony Photos and Music — to create immersive, gamified hockey experiences.
“We wish to usher in one of the best of PlayStation, one of the best of Sony Music, Sony Photos… to take the sports activities trade to a brand new stage,” stated Rufus Hack, CEO of Hawk-Eye, Pulselive, and Past Sports activities.
Will NHL Followers Be Capable of Watch Video games in VR?
Not fairly but — however that future is quick approaching.
Sony’s Past Sports activities division is working with the NHL to digitally recreate video games in actual time, setting the stage for VR fan experiences throughout platforms like PlayStation.
Finally, followers may:
Watch video games in VR with full mobility
Change between first-person views of gamers
Take part in digital watch events or coaching simulations
NHL’s Historical past With Hawk-Eye
The NHL has partnered with Sony’s Hawk-Eye tech since 2015, initially utilizing it for enhanced video replay critiques. Over time, the partnership expanded to incorporate real-time skeletal monitoring and broadcast enhancements.
The NHL’s repute as an early tech adopter has made it a case research for different leagues now exploring comparable options — from the NFL’s line-to-gain cameras to automated offside programs in European soccer.