Super Bowl? There’s an App for That!
February 5, 2016 by Casey Ward
One of my first favorite sports teams I remember falling in love with was the Chicago Bears. I think that had a lot to do with Walter Payton being my favorite player, but also because the very first Super Bowl I watched was the Bears beatdown of the Patriots in 1985. The Bears defense that year was absolutely dominant, and to this day are still considered one of the best defenses of all time. They had Hall of Famers like middle linebacker Mike Singletary and defensive end Richard Dent (Super Bowl XX MVP), along with Dan Hampton and Wilbur Marshall. They shut down team’s offenses all year and finished strong in the Super Bowl by holding the Patriots to only 10 points. The Bears defense put up one of the most dominant performances in Super Bowl history by allowing the Patriots only 7 yards rushing for the entire game, and in the 3rd quarter the Patriots had negative yards. They also had 7 sacks for the game.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Bears were led by Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton and quarterback Jim McMahon. Although Payton was their MVP workhorse for the regular season (1,684 yds 11 TD’s), he was held to only 61 yards due to the Patriots focus on stopping him. Unfortunately they forgot about the rest of the Bears offense as Jim McMahon led them by putting up 46 points, which was the most points scored by a winning team in Super Bowl history at that time.
It’s crazy to think at that time the only way you could watch the Super Bowl was to watch it on your Standard definition 4:3 ratio TV on Super Bowl Sunday. Although pretty much everyone still does watch it on Super Bowl Sunday, you didn’t have the option to DVR it in High Definition, you couldn’t watch it on your smart phone in the car, and no one even knew what live streaming was. Oh how times have changed!
As I sit here 30 years later on the eve of Super Bowl 50 and setup my new Apple TV 4, I’m amazed at how far we’ve come and how easily we can now interact with sports through technology. Mobile apps have allowed fans all over the world to watch their favorite sports teams, games, highlights, or whatever the content may be, any time they want right on their phone. It’s amazing if you think about it. I downloaded the NFL app for my Apple TV and I can watch the highlights from every Super Bowl ever played. The first highlights I watched? 85 Bears of course! If I’m sitting at a mechanic shop waiting to get by brakes fixed, I can pull up the NFL app on my iPhone and view the entire Super Bowl XXVII game to watch the Buffalo Bills lose their 4th Super Bowl in a row (In my opinion still one of the most amazing sports stats ever). You can watch games live on your phone in the car. That’s crazy if you think about where we were just 10 years ago, when the iPhone didn’t even exist! The mobile technology today has given us the ability to watch our favorite sports content when we want it, how we want it, and wherever we want it.
At REPu, we are always looking for new and better ways to incorporate sports and technology to better engage the content consumers. Our mobile app platform being used by Santa Fe Christian Schools (SFC Talon app) has elevated their fan engagement on so many levels. Their fans can get score updates, player information, and even watch games live streamed within the app. Grandparents, or mom and dads away on business, now have the ability to watch their child’s games live while sitting in their hotel room. Forget texting to find out who won the game, when you use REPu app you can watch the game live and see for yourself! As schools continues to partner with us, will are excited about supplying them with the technology and features needed that will help elevate their sports teams and athletic department.
