Skip to main content

Minnesota Wild become first pro sports team to use Snapchat Spectacles

The Wild used the trendiest new vision technology to connect with fans at a recent home game.

Read about the latest sports tech news, innovations, ideas and products that impact players, fans and the sports industry at SportTechie.com.

In the midst of the Snapchat Spectacles craze, the Minnesota Wild became the first NHL team to debut Snap Inc.’s $129 mustard-colored sunglasses and give fans a behind-the-scenes view through a unique lens.

On Wednesday, the Wild partnered with advertisement agency space150 to bring first-person social sharing to life.

As the Spectacles’ embedded cameras wirelessly sent 10-second video clips to the team’s app, Wild fans caught a glimpse of the pre-game skate, got up-close-and-personal with a player getting his skates sharpened during warmups and hopped along for a Zamboni ride. Nordy, the Wild mascot, even wore the Spectacles when he shot his T-shirt cannon into crowd at the Xcel Energy Center.

[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y94yqjm9Bvg]

Wild social and digital staffers shared content that they would arguably normally populate across various social channels, including Snapchat, but now it had that pseudo first-person feel with the use of the Spectacles.

Image placeholder title

Subscribe to the
SportTechie Newsletter

Subscribe

“Here in the State of Hockey, we’re always looking for new and unique ways to bring the action to hockey’s greatest fans while better connecting Wild fans with their team,” Wild digital managing editor and content strategist Phil Ervin said in a statement.

“We’re always looking for new ways to bring our fans closer to the team and the game. The Spectacles certainly delivered, providing a cool, new point-of-view that was really simple to execute.”

Added Greg Swan, VP of brand innovation at space150, in a statement: “We were thrilled to partner with the Minnesota Wild to bring the Spectacles perspective to hockey fans tonight—what appears to be the first time a pro sports team has tested these out.”

Expect the Spectacles to be the trendiest technology product being utilized by sports teams during the first few months of the New Year.