NHL Commish Bettman at VGK Games This Week to Check Player and Puck Tracking Technologies
By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was at T-Mobile Arena for two Vegas Golden Knights games this week to check out the National Hockey League tests and demonstrations of player and puck tracking technologies that the NHL is working on to enhance fan engagement.
The technologies have multiple applications, including giving viewers a better taste of the game on TV, said John Dellapina, a NHL spokesman.
The hockey games in person are impressive entertainment for many, but the NHL has suffered from a game that doesn’t translate well to TV and to big national TV broadcast rights contracts you see in the NFL, for example. National NHL TV ratings typically are low compared to TV ratings in the NFL, NBA and MLB. Local and regional NHL TV ratings can do well, as the Las Vegas market has proved with the Golden Knights.
Bettman was joined by NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly at the VGK games against the New York Rangers Tuesday and the San Jose Sharks Thursday.
The NHL’s talk of player and puck tracking technologies are not new because Bettman mentioned the concept last year.
Bettman was also in Las Vegas for the giant CES show, which drew 180,000 visitors from 160 countries to 11 venues in Las Vegas this week. The show concludes Friday.
Another application for the player and puck tracking technologies is gambling, Dellapina said. But he noted the NHL started work on the tracking technology before the Supreme Court decision in May that removed legal obstacles and allowed states to legalize sports betting.
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While out West this week, Bettman also made a side trip to Seattle Wednesday to do a series of appearances and interviews as Seattle prepares to launch its expansion franchise in 2012-22.
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