Per a press release from the team, the CBJ have hired former NBC4 reporter Ana Jackson to serve as part of the in game host team with current host Mike Todd, PA announcer Greg Murray, and organist Bob Dawson.
In addition, the team will be giving the fans in the seats a new tool to make the videos and games shown on the jumbotron a more interactive experience for the fans.
From the release:
“We’re excited to mark the team’s 10th season with the addition of a new personality to our talented game entertainment crew and the launch of an interactive crowd entertainment system that sports fans in Columbus haven’t experienced before,” said Kimberly Kershaw, Columbus Blue Jackets Director of Game Presentation and Production.
An exciting new addition to the Blue Jackets game atmosphere this year is the introduction of CrowdWave’s interactive game system and “Vision Interactive”™ technology. Columbus is one of only five National Hockey League clubs to introduce the innovative entertainment system this season.
CrowdWave is a unique mass-participation, interactive game platform that turns every fan into a human controller, enabling them to work together or compete against each other in video games shown on the Nationwide Arena’s video displays. Fans will experience a completely new level of interaction simply by moving their arms. CrowdWave’s game system and Vision Interactive™ technology analyzes the direction, intensity and timing of a crowd’s movement, as a whole or section by section, to control on-screen events – to play a game, answer a poll or make a choice.
To be honest, I’m….not really sure what to expect from that. I suppose we’ll see how things go.
I will say that when I saw the team adding “Enhanced Crowd Participation” on the header, I was hoping they might look at adding the ability for fans to vote for the 3 starts of the game, as recently introduced in Montreal. It’s a start, however, and it’s certainly nice to see the team making changes to the game ops, given it’s an area regularly criticized by fans.
The Blue Jackets will make their home debut Friday against the defending cup champion Blackhawks at 7pm.