Facebook has long been a place for fans to talk sports and offer up real-time analysis, especially duringb bigs events like the Super Bowl, a prize fight, the World Series, NBA Finals, and the World Cup.
On Sunday, Facebook took a step toward streamlining that experience by launching its Facebook Sports Stadium community as a dedicated destination to experience sports in real-time with friends and fellow fans around the world.
The launch was brilliantly timed to the NFL's Championship Sunday, which seen Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos edge Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in the AFC title game, followed by Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers rolling over the Arizona Cardinals.
As Tech Times' resident sports fanatic, I jumped right into Facebook's newly-launched sports hub to see what it was all about. Heading towards www.facebook.com/Sports takes you straight to the Sports on Facebook community, which posts some real-time scores, but clicking within each post sends you directly into the Facebook Sports Stadium.
Sunday's launch, of course, was tied to Championship Sunday, so the two back-to-back games to decide the Super Bowl 50 teams dominated the posts and overall talk. Before the games even started, though, there was a fan favorite poll, allowing everyone to vote for who they thought would win each game. When I clicked within a score during either game, I was deluged with real-time posts from friends and also top media outlets.
The posts are broken up into Posts from Friends and Groups, highlighting your friends' posts and comments about the game, taken right from their Facebook pages. That's followed by a series of Public Posts about the game, ranging from major outlets such as the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Fox Sports, ESPN, and Sunday Night Football.
While I loved seeing all the mainstream coverage conveniently located in one spot within the Facebook Sports Stadium, I did feel like there wasn't enough back-and-forth real-time banter from footbball fans in the new hub. By the end of the NFC title game, I counted only 22 comments, 89 shares and 153 likes. That's not much at all, given the scope of the games and, well, Facebook itself.
In addition, I would have liked to see the actual talk between fans located in the Stadium component and not the Sports on Facebook community preceding it.
Perhaps this launch was built around the NFL's Championship Sunday to work whatever kinks out before the Super Bowl. But overall, I like where Facebook is going with this, as in making its Sports Stadium a one-stop shop for rabid sports fans like me.
Monday night, for instance, marks a big NBA game between the defending champion Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs. Let's see if and how Facebook's Sports Stadium makes this a focal point with its fan talk and coverage.
Then there's that whole Superbowl thing on February 7th.
