It’s amazing to me that every sports organization hasn’t looked at what Major League Baseball did with MLB.com At Bat 2009 and replicate it for their sport. It seems like a model to not only make money, but to promote your league on a device popular with sports fans.
I’ll stop short of saying Notre Dame Central is not of the same quality of MLB At Bat, but it’s close. This $6.99 app is a must-have for fans of the Fighting Irish–and good enough for every college football fan to try.
Notre Dame Central is pricier than most sports-based iPhone apps in that it broadcasts games anyone can watch for free on NBC. And it’s disappointing that, because the app is from NBC, users can only watch the eight games that network televises instead of the school’s full schedule.
But there’s still enough content here to make Irish fans giddy. If you miss one of the team’s NBC games (or if you just want to re-watch), the app has condensed versions of the games much like MLB At Bat offers. There are also highlight videos and press conferences as well as six classic Fighting Irish games from past seasons.
The app borrows some of its information from NBC Sports Mobile, but unlike that app it has a clean design and is very easy to navigate. Surprisingly, there are no player stats included, but just about anything else you would want is here.
Content-wise, the app reminds me a lot of NBC Sports Mobile. There are hours and hours of videos and the On Demand section means this is worth checking out even in mid-season.
At the very least, Notre Dame Central represents a step in the right direction for sports apps as it provides a complete and unique to the iPhone experience.
