Extreme, Non-Mainstream Sports Push the Envelope
The Web has a way of reflecting all the wackiness the world has to offer, and the realm of streaming sports content is no different.
If you're into dog-sled racing in the far reaches of the Upper Peninsula in Michigan, or kayaking at the Ottawa River Rodeo, look no further than the correct URL. It may take years before full-length streaming coverage of Monday Night Football hits the Internet, but for niche sports fans, the time is ripe.
Viosport.com, founded in March 2000, focuses on the types of events that don't get much television broadcast coverage, such as the IceMan Cometh mountain bike race in Traverse City, Michigan.
"A race like that is not going to get much coverage," says David Ollila, president of Viosport.com. "We use helmet cams along with course-side cameras and get the video up on the site the day after the event."
Viosport, based in Marquette, Michigan, has 15 correspondents around the country to gather video from extreme sports from all seasons such as skateboarding, water sports, motor sports, and mountain sports. The company is also a sponsor of the Boarding for Breast Cancer Snowboarding and Music Festival.
"This is video you can't see anywhere else, and it's compelling content to the people watching, because they are generally participants in the event," says Ollila. The videos are getting about a 25 percent response rate from participants in such events, says Ollila. However, until the days when bandwidth becomes cheaper, Viosport.com will rely on a market research division to help pay the bills.
Trackmeets.com handles the production and live webcasting for a range of track and field events. The company's most high-profile event to date was the 2000 Canadian Track & Field Championships (winners qualified for the 2000 Olympics), for which it streamed all-day live coverage of the entire three days of the event. The site reported over 30,000 visitors over that weekend. According to Kamal Jabbour, chief engineer at Trackmeets.com, they were unable to cover the U.S. trials because of broadcasting rights."TV has a habit of paying for rights and then not doing anything with them. Those are the events that could be really profitable for us," says Jabbour.
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