Until now, the only way to easily grab a Super Bowl program was attend the game. But now, the NFL is making this Sunday’s official program available on the iPad, for free.
It’s a magazine-like presentation that mirrors the paper version of the game program: Packers and Steelers scouting reports, rosters, Super Bowl records, photos and in-depth stories. It also includes video extras of a few of the best post-season highlights, some of which are embedded into the stories themselves. (I’m a very big fan of seamlessly embedded video on iPad apps, and the NFL could have easily replaced half the photos with video clips. After all, it owns all the video.)
The program is pretty slick all around, and a nice second-screen companion to your Super Bowl TV experience. But this is only scratching the surface of its potential. Imagine an iPad game program that also includes social media conversations, real-time stats and live cameras, to name a few — many of the things that interactive TV has promised for years, but would fit quite nicely on an iPad.
For ESPN fans, some of this sounds familiar. ESPN’s SportsCenter iPad app (above) offers all the ESPN coverage you expect with real-time game stats and box scores. But it’s lacking the social layer and live video, the latter of which the NFL could license to itself. In fact, the NFL could create a dynamic “game program” app that updates each week with every program across the league, adding real-time social features and video integrated inside. As a football fan myself, that would be spectacular.
I should also mention that the NFL also published a Super Bowl Guide app, which is an interactive map and city guide for people attending the game in Dallas.