Millions of fans around the world are counting the days while more than 1,000 riders and horses board planes and the U.S. gets ready for the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games.
This most important event in the equestrian world takes place every four years in between the Olympic cycle in another host country. This year, the magnificent Tryon Equestrian Center in Mill Spring, NC, is setting the scene for exciting sport in the eight FEI disciplines: Showjumping, Dressage (including Para Dressage), Eventing, Driving, Endurance, Vaulting, and Reining.
Over 12 days — from September 11 to 23 — an estimated 500,000 spectators onsite and millions online will watch this year’s largest sporting event in the U.S., cheering on their favorite riders and teams, including SAP Equestrian ambassador Ingrid Klimke and her championship horse “SAP Hale Bob OLD”.
For the first time in the history of World Equestrian Games, the audience onsite and online will become part of the action directly thanks to SAP, which became the Official Fan Engagement Sponsor of the event.
With the Spectator Judging App, powered by SAP, everybody can provide his or her individual scores for the competitors in real time, in the most convenient way, and to predict the outcome of the competitions. The audience will be presented their results immediately in the app and on the scoreboards, creating an immersive experience and a direct feedback loop for the commentators to the fans.
In addition, Stories behind the Numbers will make sure fans don’t miss any of the exciting details around their idols. Provided in cooperation with Irish Equestrian data-science gurus EquiRatings and powered by SAP technology, fans of the sport will find sophisticated analyses, insights, and stats based on data from the last six decades of Olympics and World Games.
Eventing geeks will be pleased with the latest co-innovation in order to experience this data even closer. EquiRatings STACKS is a challenging strategy game that puts fan knowledge to the ultimate test by trying to build the highest stack of correct answers.
As a special treat for German fans who cannot make it to the U.S., SAP — together with its partner, the leading Equestrian internet platform ClipMyHorse.TV — is presenting the full live coverage of the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games. Remote viewers will benefit from the same engagement options and insights as spectators onsite at the Tryon Equestrian Center — making this another premiere for the sport.
Let the games begin! And follow along on social media via @sapsports.
Henrike Paetz is head of Equestrian Partnerships at SAP.
