Sportvision
Encyclopedia
Sportvision is a private company that provides various television
viewing enhancements to a number of different professional sporting events. They work with NFL
, NBA
, NASCAR
, NHL
, MLB
, PGA
and college football
broadcasts.
In 1996, Stan Honey developed a way to track hockey puck
s with a blue halo as seen by television viewers. It was assumed at that time that viewers had a hard time keeping track of the puck. Released as the FoxTrax
puck, it was not a success but led to the 1998 formation of the Sportvision company and later that year the development of the 1st & Ten
computer system, which generates and displays the yellow first down line that a TV viewer sees during a live football broadcast. The system became a major hit with television viewers when used during a broadcast of the Super Bowl
. It has since become part of all standard American professional
and college football
and Canadian pro football
broadcasts.
Another popular Sportvision product is seen in broadcasts of NASCAR
races. It is called RACEf/x, and creates virtual flags above the cars to make them easier to follow by the viewers.
Sportvision also created the PITCHf/x system used by Major League Baseball
to provide pitch data to users of MLB.com
GameDay
and viewers of Fox, Fox Sports Net, Rogers Sports Net and TBS.
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
viewing enhancements to a number of different professional sporting events. They work with NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
, NBA
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
, NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
, NHL
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
, MLB
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
, PGA
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...
and college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
broadcasts.
In 1996, Stan Honey developed a way to track hockey puck
Hockey puck
A puck is a disk used in various games serving the same functions as a ball does in ball games. The best-known use of pucks is in ice hockey, a major international sport.- Etymology :The origin of the word "puck" is obscure...
s with a blue halo as seen by television viewers. It was assumed at that time that viewers had a hard time keeping track of the puck. Released as the FoxTrax
FoxTrax
FoxTrax was a specialized ice hockey puck with internal electronics that allowed its position to be tracked designed for NHL telecasts on the Fox television network...
puck, it was not a success but led to the 1998 formation of the Sportvision company and later that year the development of the 1st & Ten
1st & Ten (graphics system)
1st & Ten is the name for a computer system that generates and displays one version of the yellow first down line that a TV viewer sees during a live broadcast of a college or professional American football or Canadian football game A competing system that performs the same task using different...
computer system, which generates and displays the yellow first down line that a TV viewer sees during a live football broadcast. The system became a major hit with television viewers when used during a broadcast of the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
. It has since become part of all standard American professional
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
and college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
and Canadian pro football
Canadian football
Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...
broadcasts.
Another popular Sportvision product is seen in broadcasts of NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
races. It is called RACEf/x, and creates virtual flags above the cars to make them easier to follow by the viewers.
Sportvision also created the PITCHf/x system used by Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
to provide pitch data to users of MLB.com
MLB.com
MLB.com is the official site of Major League Baseball and is overseen by Major League Baseball Advanced Media, L.P. . MLB.com is a source of baseball-related information, including baseball news, statistics, and sports columns...
GameDay
GameDay (software)
GameDay is a software program that allows sports fans to track games with live stats. For Major League Baseball, it was introduced in 2002, a year after all team sites were migrated to MLB.com. Today the software provides improved features such as camera angle and pitch speed, as well as pitch...
and viewers of Fox, Fox Sports Net, Rogers Sports Net and TBS.