NHL To Launch ‘smart Puck’ To Track Data

The National Hockey League (NHL) has revealed plans to introduce a smart puck, with technology embedded to allow the league to track movement on ice at around 200 times a second.

According to Dave Lehanski, senior vice president of business developments and global partnerships at the NHL, this is a significant improvement on current live data tracking,

Announcing details at SAP’s North American Sports Forum, Lehanski said that the collection of data will enhance broadcasts and could also open up potential in-game betting options. Coaches could also use the data during games.

According to Lehanski, the technology will likely be introduced and tested in 2019, either during next season’s playoffs or the start of the 2019/2020 season.

Lehanski explained: “There’s no doubt that [sports betting] will be a part of the fan experience almost across any touchpoint. Live streaming products will start to incorporate betting functionality.

“And today, the foundation for that experience is data. We’re seeing that 75% of all bets in sports now are in-game prop bets.

“The only way we can do that in a real-time manner is to be aggregating data and distributing it on a real-time basis with someone who can create odds and probabilities in real time and distribute that to the fan.”