Round-Up: The FCBHackDays

FC Bayern is on their way to the future and organized their first hackathon. In a guest contribution Andreas Dotzler explains what this is all about.

Dennis

February 2, 2018

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adidas

fc bayern

fcbhackdays

opta

round-up

sap

I was at the FCBHackdays for three reasons: I’m a nerd, I’m looking for some bright minds as an employee for my start-up, I’m a Bayern fan.

The most important thing: the FCBHackdays are a hackathon, so it’s primarily about technology, not football. 220 participants from 43 countries, live game with lounge and free beer – that’s a lot of fun. They wanted the crazy ideas, for the easy options the sponsors have their own people. Sponsors pay for the event, so in the end it’s all about earning money directly or indirectly. But that’s the case with most hackathons. On the subject of technology, there was a lot to be done. The UnternehmerTUM has brought in boxes of hardware, smartphones, VR glasses, hololenses, 3D printers, laser cutters. In addition, a lots of data, e. g. Opta and from SAP.

In my team, we recreated game scenes in 3D. You can then look at them from all angles, take over the position of a player and then playfully change the scene, e. g. passing instead of shooting. (Details including video)

The ideas from the hackathon don’t belong to the sponsors, they were published here. A few teams have decided not to publish their ideas.

A few thoughts on the ideas

The winners: Beat adidas – Jumping up and down for discounts in the adidas-store. Maybe not everyone’s cup of tea, but the test fans in the stadium who tried it out had fun.

There was a lot about fan engagement, e. g. points for a selfie, points for a quiz, and so on. An example: Fitumi. But there are exciting technologies behind it, which calculate a score like how emotional an image or tweet is. Whoever thinks of Black Mirror might not be so wrong.

You will never sing alone – There will be a lot of discussion about this. The advertisement on the stadium board is a bit exaggerated, but it would be nice to have more people cheering for the team. Anyone who fundamentally rejects the idea must also be against megaphones and song books in the curve. For fans who can’t hear, the app would surely be a nice thing.

I had hoped for more about new concepts for the transportation surrounding the stadium experience, after all the capacity increase depends on it. There have already been a few ideas on Ride/Carsharing.

Augmented and virtual reality for the spectators at home, gaming scenes from a player’s point of view, that will certainly come. I put on such a hololense to try it. Impressive! Here is an example of how this can look like: Hackmas.

You have to keep in mind: It’s all ideas and prototypes that were created within a few days. Even if you don’t like the actual ideas, take a look at the technical background and see what has been achieved.

As a nerd I can recommend the participation. You don’t have to be a programmer, even designers or people who like to work conceptually are in demand. As a Bayern fan with no particular interest in technology, it is probably not worth it.