With the launch of a new app, fans of the Vodafone Warriors rugby league team will be able to livestream the game from the perspectives of the cameras spread throughout Mount Smart Stadium, where the team plays its home matches. The Warriors announced the app’s release on July 13, and it is available for free on iOS.
Vodafone Stadium Live connects to SKY TV’s cameras, providing fans with a number of different angles —eight, specifically —from which to see the game. The app appears to be especially useful for fans in line for concessions or otherwise away from their seats. Fans can livestream the game, view highlights and replays and see real-time player stats. (Though fans have to be at the stadium to take advantage of those features.)
The app was developed by Vodafone, a British telecommunications company, in partnership with the Warriors and SKY TV, a New Zealand cable provider. Vodafone has also been the long-time sponsor of the team.
“Vodafone has been a core partner of ours since 1999 and their support has been unprecedented in the era of professional sport,” Jim Doyle, the Warriors’ managing director, said in a statement. “The Stadium Live app is another demonstration of Vodafone’s complete commitment to the Vodafone Warriors and ensures our fans get the benefit of the best technology has to offer.”
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The app also allows fans to access players’ social media pages, buy tickets to home matches, view the draw schedule and buy team merchandise. The app launched officially in time for a highly touted match at Mount Smart Stadium against National Rugby League foe Cronulla.
Russell Stanners, the CEO of Vodafone, touted the app as ushering in the future of sports viewing experiences. A video shows the app’s many uses within the stadium environment.
“There’s no longer a need to crane your neck when the action’s down field, or wonder why a call was made,” Stanners said in the statement. “With a flick of your thumb you can rewind any of the eight camera angles back by 30 seconds to get a replay, just as you would while watching the match at home.”
Vodafone and SKY TV could have a head start on a potentially popular way for fans to watch Warriors rugby matches.