NHL to Use GoPro Cameras for Promotions and Broadcasts

GoPro, the popular rugged-camera maker, has come to an agreement with the NHL to use the mountable cameras to create a point-of-view look for fans in NHL promos and game broadcasts. According to AdWeek, around a dozen NHL players were outfitted with GoPro cameras during a recent media tour. With cameras on their helmets, jerseys and masks, GoPro filmed the players doing various acts of shooting, skating, and puck handling. The video will be mainly used for promotional material, but some is expected to be cut in to various broadcasts on NBC, Rogers Network, and the NHL Network.

Plenty of hockey-related material shot with GoPros can be found on YouTube, but not of it has to do with the NHL — the best of the best — as of yet. Affixing the cameras to top-tier players will give fans one of the closest approximations available as to what it’s like to play in an NHL game. The footage can provide not only a totally new point of view, but a better realization of just how fast the game can be.

GoPro cameras were made for this kind of thing. Getting their start as the camera of record for extreme sports, they have branched into almost any field imaginable. While people are using GoPros for anything these days, they got their start in sports. It is almost slightly curious as to why it has taken this long for this kind of partnership to flourish. Nevertheless, it makes perfect sense, and should give a more in-depth look at the sport while perhaps even drawing in a few new ones.

(Header photo via Tom Hart)