Live Sports Featured on Panam Sports' New Mobile App

(ATR) Innovative, stylish, colorful and user-friendly, Panam Sports' new mobile application is a must have for sports fans of the 41 NOCs of the Americas.

The over-the-top digital service, which was officially launched last week, is a significant and innovative transformation of the Panam Sports Channel, which went live during the Lima 2019 Pan American Games.

"The app, of course, allows people to watch on their phones, tablets or computers as well, so it’s a real advantage and we hope it will make it easier for people to access and find the information that they are looking for," Panam Sports secretary general Ivar Sisniega tells Around the Rings.

Features and highlights include memorable moments from past Pan American Games, behind-the scenes elements, athlete interviews and coaching seminars to watch on-demand, free for users to download.

"The original thought of the Panam Sports Channel was to show the best of the Games and our athletes, but it’s evolving – we’re finding different uses which have grown exponentially such as the coaching education and some things for athletes as well.

"If people weren’t able to access the live session, they can go to the channel and catch up on the sports psychology or nutrition segments," says Sisniega, a three-time Olympian representing Mexico in Modern Pentathlon.

"We had a great cooperation agreement with Sport for Life in Canada and had a complete long-term athletes development certification program for administrators and coaches."

The online platform and mobile app will offer upcoming live events including Tokyo Olympic Qualifiers, the Pan American Championships and the Cali 2021 Junior Pan American Games.

"The idea is to really give sports fans all of the material – sometimes television has limitations, they can’t show all the sports, so we’re hoping people can watch almost anything on the channel," Sisniega tells ATR.

"We’ll continue to upload more great moments from past Pan American Games and we’re also working on new materials, especially interviews," he says. "We want it to be a very interactive tool."

Panam Sports is the first continental organization in the Olympic Movement to offer a dedicated over-the-top (OTT) service.

"Nevin (Ilic) and myself, we’re both around 60, I’m a little over and he’s a little under, but we think we’re still 20-something and we’ve put together a team of young, energetic, very capable persons," Sisniega says, referring to the Panam Sports president.

"This, I think, has helped to try and become innovators in everything we do. We’re trying to innovate all the time and hopefully that’s how we’ll continue to work."

Panam Sports is partnering with Streann Media to facilitate the digital transformation. The award-winning OTT Platform Provider, founded in 2014 and based in Miami, Florida, like Panam Sports, is providing all technical support and innovative elements for the project.

New Horizons in Cali 2021

Panam Sports is entering the homestretch to the first-ever Junior Pan American Games, set to take place in Cali, Colombia from Sept. 9-19.

"Cali is on track – they are using a lot of the infrastructure that was used for the 1971 Pan American Games, 50 years ago," Sisniega says. "Obviously, they’re going to upgrade and make small re-modeling projects, but they’re pretty much ready to have the Games."

"Creating a Pathway to High Performance" is the theme as some 3,500 Under-23 athletes will compete for medals in more than 25 sports.

"There is no village, they’ll be in hotels," Sisniega informs. "We’ve also set-up a special COVID task force with the organizers, the Ministry of Health at the National, state and city levels, so there are a series of protocols.

"We’ll try to keep bubbles for the sports and unfortunately, reducing a lot of the social activities, but it very important for us as our first event."

Top performers have a chance to punch their ticket to the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games.

"The winners of the individual events will get an additional spot for their countries for the Santiago Games, so that’s an innovative concept," Sisniega says. "Many of them will probably be medalists or finalists in the Pan American Games and probably go on to compete in Paris, so this is our next generation event."

Baseball and softball will be among the featured events, late addition sports that will be played on existing fields in Barranquilla, in the Caribbean region of Colombia, about a one-hour flight away from Cali Valle.

"It is a fortunate and generous offer from Barranquilla to host those two sports at their own cost," Sisniega said.

Santiago 2023

With less than 30 months to go, Santiago prepares, amid difficult circumstances, to host the XIX Pan American Games. Scheduled for Oct. 20 – Nov. 5, 2023, it will mark the first time the Continental Games of the Americas will be held in Chile.

"Santiago and Chile, in general, has a lot of problems with COVID – they’ve closed down offices and people can’t leave their homes for fairly long stretches of time, so it’s been really challenging," Sisniega admits.

"We have incredible and sustained support from the president of the Republic of Chile and that’s very important to us," says the Panam sports secretary general. "The organizing committee is headed by the sports minister of Chile and they haven’t stopped working a single day.

"We haven’t been able to go to Chile in over a year and that’s the only part that is missing, but we have one or two meetings a month and they’ve fulfilled all of their obligations.

"They have great infrastructure projects – they’re building a new field hockey stadium and training facility and they’re going to re-model their aquatics center.

"The village is in a very good part of town, where the old airport used to be, and everything has been well-communicated. It’s a beautiful city, so we’re looking forward to great Games in Santiago."

Homepage graphic: Panam Sports

Written and reported by Brian Pinelli

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