It's been over a year now that we went to Camp Nou, FC Barcelona stadium, to see how technology was changing the way football matches are broadcast. At that time we talked about networks of 5K cameras that generated sequences that seemed impossible with conventional cameras, but now the possibilities have increased.
With the occasion of the celebration of the Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona, LaLiga wanted to show us how they are increasingly using technology to improve not only the quality of the video of the broadcasts, but also the data that the viewers can have. by hand at the same time they watch a football game.
We have seen it directly where it is being implemented, the RCDE Stadium, the official stadium of the Real Club Deportivo Español. Located a few kilometers from the MWC, the site has been equipped with several additional technologies to the Intel True View cameras that we saw at the Camp Nou.
4K HDR quality in matches is here
The LaLiga team showed us that we can already watch football in 4K HDR without problems. It is missing that the general public adapts
Carlos Ruiz-Ocaña, responsible for communication at LaLiga, told us how all the cameras have been prepared to be able to retransmit in 4K and HDR. Although he has admitted that there are still few who can watch the broadcasts to this quality from their homes, he hopes that over time these resolutions become commonplace to "see the tattoos and the sweat of the players".
Joris Evers, head of communications at LaLiga (and with whom we talked when he was in the same department as Netflix), tells us that they want to further improve the quality of these cameras and expand them to more stadiums. At the moment the True View system is installed in the stadiums of Athletic, Sevilla, Barça and Madrid; with plans to expand soon in the stadiums of Valencia and Bilbao.
More technological innovations: the "Laser Wall". Under this name is hidden a system of sensors that detect when there is an interesting play in the game, making the closest cameras can capture the players involved and generate plans at short distances.
But the most striking, without any doubt, is the Sky Cam. A hanging camera with four fiber cables capable of sliding several meters above the stadium, reaching a speed of 12 meters per second. And although it is only allowed in the training, the Sky Cam can descend to a scant 3 meters of the lawn of the stadium when the norm is that it is suspended at 21 meters of height.
These cameras are nothing new: they invented them in the 90s, to record plays just above the players in the most important games of the US leagues. Now that they can settle with smaller budgets, LaLiga has placed them in the stadiums of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Athletic, Espanyol, Sevilla, Betis, Valencia and Bilbao.
Joris defines the Sky Cam in a simple way: imitate the planes of video games. These have total freedom to put the plans they want in virtual scenarios, and the suspended camera allows you to approach that level. The younger audience appreciates that.
And if you are keeping the question of whether the camera has received a balonazo: yes, it has happened. Once, and precisely in the Espanyol stadium. Fortunately, SkyCam is prepared for these cases and did not fall on anyone. Endured sustained with the four cables.
Big Data in a football game? Yes, it makes sense
There is nothing that escapes from the sensors and data analysis in LaLiga matches
A network of sensors is responsible for another advance: the collection of all data about the movement of each and every one of the players. An interface called Media Coach controls all these movements, so that qualified personnel can generate filters that locate very specific moves.
An example makes you understand much better: an operator can quickly find a Messi move in which he was running in possession of the ball at more than 20 kilometers per hour in a certain area of the field. With this you can create much more complete statistics of each player and game, both usable to offer products to the public (details during the retransmission) and the team to analyze the performance of their signings.
Experiments with virtual reality helmets do not go beyond just that: experiments
Finally, and with the collaboration with MediaPro, a concept of virtual reality data and match interface represents the experiment of that company to see if the public would be encouraged to watch a game using virtual reality glasses or augmented reality.
They admit it themselves: they do not know if it will work. But the experiment, with all its possibilities, is there. Imagine being able to see a match as if you were next to one of the goals, consulting all the data and performance of each player, and with the conventional retransmissions of the match inserted.
Among all the data, the cameras and the sensors, it is clear to us. Maybe if you watch a football game on television and you're not too fond of it, you will not notice anything, but the technology used to broadcast and record them is changing profoundly.