Minor hockey parents unable to watch their kids games in person in Sarnia, may soon have a new option if council gives the green light.
A company that provides live and on demand broadcasts of amateur and youth sports wants to install unmanned recording devices at Progressive Auto Sales Arena, Clearwater Arena and Pat Stapleton Arena to stream games.
Mayor Mike Bradley said council is being asked to direct staff to negotiate a five-year agreement with LiveBarn on Monday, that would see the company bear the full cost of installation.
"I think it's a great idea," Bradley said. "I think it's excellent for everyone involved. [The installation] doesn't have an impact financially on the city, or the players, and I think that is a good thing. Again, the opportunity for people to be able to watch this is, I think, an excellent thing."
The footage -- available after purchasing a subscription -- could also be used to prepare game plans, create video content for player development, for scouting purposes and to review on-ice incidents.
"I think it may bring some discipline to what happens in the arenas when people realize the games are live-streamed," Bradley said.
He added that this type of technology use is one of the positive outcomes from the COVID years.
"When the province wouldn't allow people to gather in the arenas, and we unfortunately were in the position of enforcing it, that had an impact on how people were looking at how we were doing things, and I think this is a good way to move forward," said Bradley.
Only Lambton Junior AAA hockey games would be live-streamed and all other events and games would be blacked out.
"Who doesn't want to see their kid on TV or live-streamed playing and keep that as a memory too," Bradley said. "It's just a positive thing and we need more positive things right now. One of the things I've noted over, and over again is that post-COVID we've just got a difficult situation to deal with, with the public, and anger about the years that were lost. It's time to move on and these types of small things that move us forward, I think, are really good community builders."
In the report to council, staff said the city would not be responsible for the damage or malfunction of any equipment and LiveBarn would pay to repair or replace any malfunctioning components.
The city would also receive 20 per cent of revenues generated during the agreement term.