LiveBarn brings local arena action remotely to audiences

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on November 1, 2024.

Herald photo by Al Beeber Games and events at Henderson Ice Centre are now being streamed on the LIveBarn service to those with a subscription.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

Parents, grandparents or anyone living near or far who wants to keep track of loved ones activities on local arenas now can do so remotely.

For family members who want to watch little ones in their first season of hockey or figure skating, an initiative launched by the City of Lethbridge in conjunction with streaming platform LiveBarn will let them keep up with all the action this winter at five city arenas either live or on demand.

Starting Thursday, LiveBarn began streaming from three city arenas including Henderson Ice Centre, the Labour Club Ice Centre and Nicholas Sheran Arena. Logan Boulet Arena and both rinks at Cavendish Farms Centre will be online in the middle of this month.

The streams are motion-activated, coming online when at least two skaters hit the ice.

LiveBarn is streaming from 1,903 venues across North America so a pilot project wasn’t needed before the City introduced the subscription based service which has basic and premium plans. It is active in all 10 Canadian provinces and 49 U.S. states.

There are 110 arenas being served in Alberta including ones in Magrath, Coaldale, Taber Foremost, Bow Island and Medicine Hat.

The service also has partnerships with 21 NHL teams serving their practice facilities and local hockey communities.

Recreation and Community Culture Liaison Jennie Sudo said Thursday in the lobby of the Henderson rink that the partnership will allow “our local sports teams to expand into other communities, as well,” with people able to watch from anywhere they are.

“Especially after COVID and seeing our sports teams not being able to be supported in person we want to be able to support our local athletes any way we can,” said Sudo.

Events to be live-streamed will range from minor hockey and recreational leagues to local figure skating clubs.

Each facility has one camera installed in each rink. When people buy a subscription, they log onto LiveBarn.com, find the right arena and start viewing. There are also apps available for Android and Apple products.

The partnership didn’t cost the City and its taxpayers anything, said Sudo with the vendor operating the systems on subscription-based programs.

“We’re excited to provide it,” said Sudo of the service.

Arena cameras have two different view types, one which follows all the action and the other which shows a panoramic view of an entire ice surface, said Sudo.

In Henderson, the camera is situated on a wall between the players benches.

In a media release, Facility Operations Manager Mike Tajiri, said he expects LiveBarn will be a popular feature in southern Alberta.

“We’ve heard for a long time that a lot of people, especially families, want to watch minor sports events when they can’t be there in-person. Now family and friends can cheer on their favourite young players from anywhere in the world.”

According to Lethbridge Sport Council executive director Susan Eymann, the platform has benefits for coaches and athletes, as well.

“It’s a great resource for both coaching and promoting youth ice sports. Coaches can review footage to analyze team play and support athlete development. And athletes have a new way to highlight their skills for scouts and recruiters,” Eymann said.

LiveBarn can be used by coaches to review games and practices and scout their teams’ competition. It can also help players build an athletic resume, review personal performance and share highlights.

Users can use the promo code ‘leth-live’ to get a 10 per cent discount when signing up to LiveBarn.