November 12, 2024 / News Club Maitland City Installs Game Changing Sports Bar Innovation
The popularity of live sport in Australia has never been greater.
This is a well-known fact among many hospitality businesses, who are constantly badgered by customers for the most in-demand sports to be shown on their big screen.
Sportsyear Co-Founder Daniel Giorelando, says managing this challenge is only going to get worse.
“Technology has brought about an exponential evolution in the delivery of sports and sports rights, particularly over the last two years”.
“There has never been this many players in the Australian sports broadcasting space, and it's making screen management, scheduling and operations harder than ever for venues," he added.
Now, there is a solution.
The product is called “LiveTick” and it uses Sportsyear data to deliver an automated channel changing solution based on a club’s unique preferences, broadcast set up and location.
Getting staff to put the right live sport on the big screen at Club Maitland City used to be a challenge for Alex. Now, we've helped him automate it! 💥 #LiveTick pic.twitter.com/xN6uppl1kW
— Sportsyear (@Sportsyear) October 29, 2024
LiveTick removes all of the associated stress with managing an array of different channels and back of house inputs through a specially designed algorithm.
It has proven to be an instant success for Club Maitland City, which has utilised the service to automate the live sport running on its two big screen channels in the sports bar.
Operations Manager Alex Jervis says it is allowing him to focus on other key areas of his role.
“It saves a lot of time in the morning when I’m doing my rounds. It takes things off my to-do list like checking the channels and that sort of stuff. It just makes my life a lot easier”.
Jervis says staff can now focus on serving patrons at the bar, instead of worrying about upcoming channel changes or 'Fox Box' switches, which usually occur during peak trade.
"They’re not [back of house] changing channels or anything like that because of the software, so more time to serve cold drinks.”
After the installation of LiveTick, big screen programming is now automated according to the smallest detail.
“LiveTick would generally execute around four or five changes on a Saturday." said Jervis.
"It would start off with American sports in the morning and then you’ll have an afternoon of NRLW if the Knights are on and then maybe some NRL later in the afternoon on Super Saturday.
"We actually have it on both our [big screen] channels, so the live footy will be on one, and the second channel will constantly be changing between what’s live and what we want on.” he explained.
This technological advancement has been achieved thanks to a partnership between two Sydney based companies, Sportsyear and Total Concept Projects.
Total Concept Projects Director Adrian Musico says it will unlock a lot of possibilities for venues looking to invest in operational efficiencies and deliver a better experience for patrons.
“From a customer’s point of view, LiveTick makes the sports viewing experience better for fans because they’re able to come in, and it’s engaging [them] because they know that it’s live.
"It’s [also] increasing dwell time, especially through lunchtime”.
Musico says he's enjoyed working with Sportsyear because it's a like minded business.
“It’s always been great working with Pat. We met in March or April last year, and when we did, we realised that our businesses, although different, are very much aligned.
"What we’re both trying to achieve in the space is very similar." he added.
LiveTick is available for all Australian venues as a monthly subscription that includes install and ongoing servicing requirements.
