Sports Business Journal
All 16 NHL postseason arenas “will have puck and player technology available, while all arenas will have it ready to go” for the start of the ’21 season, according to Marisa Ingemi of the BOSTON HERALD.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said, “There will be more data than ever before. I believe the players will generate something like 200 data points per second and the puck 2,000 data points a second, so in terms of getting inside the game, telling stories, as a fan delving in to get what you’re interested in, you’re going to be able to do more things than ever before and even imaginable” (BOSTON HERALD, 1/25).
In Boston, Matt Porter wrote the league’s long-anticipated rollout was “delayed last summer after changing its technology partner (from Jogmo World Corp. to SMT).” The league has “tested the technology” at the last three All-Star Weekends, including this years.
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said that the system “will be active for certain games the remainder of this regular season.” Porter noted the league “doesn’t yet know which games will serve as guinea pigs” (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/25).
ESPN.com’s Greg Wyshynski wrote puck and player tracking “isn’t just a storytelling device,” it is “potentially big business.” The NHL has “licensed its data to sportsbooks such as MGM and William Hill, with the anticipation that the sportsbooks will build new ways to wager on hockey around the data”