Fans at San Diego State\u2019s Viejas Arena react to a score at a basketball game. All the details of the game are included on the image. (Courtesy Fanpics.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nActually, now you can have a photograph of that as well, thanks to Fanpics.com, a company with offices in Mission Hills that is changing the way sports fans experience a game.<\/p>\n
Fanpics employees have been setting up dozens of robotic cameras at arenas around the country including Viejas Arena at San Diego State and Staples Center in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
When something big happens in a game, such as a game-winning 3-point shot or a great hockey goal, the Fanpics cameras take photos of every seat in the entire arena.<\/p>\n
Attendees who have downloaded the free Fanpics app before the game can log in and within seconds see their reactions and share those sports selfies to friends, family and social media.<\/p>\n
Co-founder Marco Correia \u2014 who is also head of brand, product and strategy \u2014 said the idea was inspired by cameras installed on rides at Disneyland, SeaWorld and other major theme parks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThink of the key moment of Splash Mountain, but applied to sports,\u201d he said. \u201cSports is full of these emotional moments that people want to capture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Correia credits his business partner, co-founder and CEO Will Dickinson, with the inspiration for Fanpics.<\/p>\n
\u201cWill grew up in England following Chelsea, a big soccer team there,\u201d said Correia, a San Diego native now living in East Village. \u201cHe was sitting on the couch watching the team come back in a dramatic fashion and saw the cameramen pan the crowd going nuts. He realized there are not a lot of times when people hug strangers other than sports.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company \u2014 which has only been around for 18 months and already has a staff of 18 \u2014 did its test piloting at Viejas Arena.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt helped that I was an Aztec alum, class of 2008,\u201d Correia said proudly. \u201cWe set up about 10 robotic cameras inside the perimeter that can cover the entire arena in seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n
One Fanpics employee works at each arena contracted to use the service.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cameras are plugged into a system,\u201d Correia said. \u201cOne employee presses a button every time something big happens. We usually get about 20 to 30 decent photos each game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those photos can be downloaded from the Fanpics website for free \u2014 the company makes its money through sponsorship deals and ads on the app, which allow them to offer the photos at no cost to the consumer.<\/p>\n
Getting the word out about the service, however, has presented the entrepreneurs with some challenges.<\/p>\n
For instance, an informational video shown on the Viejas Arena \u201cJumbotron\u201d at one Aztecs game this season was unclear about how Fanpics works. But Correia said the reaction he\u2019s received from people who have signed up makes him confident in the product\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout 20 percent of people at each game download the app and check in at the game with their seat numbers,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s pretty high. And we know those people who check in are going back to the app to check updated photos \u2014 it only takes 30 seconds for a new photo to show up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though Correia and company only have two arenas on contract so far, he believes that number could be 50 by the end of 2016.<\/p>\n
The current focus is on arenas hosting basketball and hockey, rather than football or baseball.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe install the cameras into an arena at our own expense,\u201d Correia said. \u201cIf we were to set up at, say, Dallas Cowboys Stadium, which seats 100,000 people, we would need 30 cameras for only eight games a season. But we can be at Staples for 82 games a season with just 10 cameras [for basketball and hockey].<\/p>\n
\u201cBaseball has a lot of games, but there are [MLB enforced] rights issues,\u201d he continued. \u201cIf you do something at one stadium, it has to be at all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more details \u2014 including their FAQs or path to branding on their blog \u2014 visit Fanpics.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u2014Alex Owens es un escritor independiente con sede en San Diego. Se le puede contactar en alexowenssd@gmail.com.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"por Alex Owens<\/p>","protected":false},"author":764,"featured_media":238222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"\u2018Every fan has a story\u2019","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11600,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-238221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-sdnews","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/764"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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