InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
November 17, 1997
Channel Strategies: Reseller's Video Analysis Scores For Sports Teams
Avid Sports' system helps clubs improve game prepar ation
The systems are built around Fibre Channel networking and storage products, Avid Sports analysis and editing software, Macintosh workstations, and within the coming months, PC desktops and servers, says Avid VP of sales Bob Simmons.
Avid Sports, in Lowell, Mass., was launched about three years ago as a subsidiary of Avid Technology Inc. in Tewksbury, Mass., a $500 million provider of digital video-editing solutions to the entertainment industry. As part of its i
ntegrated sports-market digital video solutions, which include SportsPro, a digital video-editing system, and SportsView, a video-viewing system, Avid Sport provides all integration, installation, training, phone, and field-support services, says Simmons.
The digital video solutions eliminate the need for tapes and let coaches and players meticulously view and analyze their games to improve game plans, as well as analyze their opponents' strategy. Avid Sports' approximately 100 customers include at least 10 National Football League teams, as well as a number of college football squads and teams from the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League.
"What was a two-day process before is now a two-hour process," says John Wuehrmann, director of video operations for the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs, who are using the SportPro and SportView solutions for the first time this season.
The digitized system allows random access to footage, removing the need to rewind, swap, or shuttle tapes. "Th
e video is merged with data [shown on screen] such as who kicked the ball, the distance, proximity, and other information," says Wuehrmann. "The system lets coaches look at the video, create a media sequence, and then query it."
An entry-level solution is priced at about $50,000. Higher-end systems used by pro teams are priced at about $400,000.
ootball season never ends for Avid Sports LLC. The value-added reseller sells digital video analysis systems that let professional and college football teams, as well as teams in other sports, analyze and dissect video of their games to assist coaching staffs and players to strategize better.
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