The NFL has been using sensors in its footballs during preseason games this year, "but hasn't yet decided if the sensors will be used in the regular season," according to Kurt Wagner of RE/CODE. The league has "added a lightweight, quarter-sized sensor inside each football." The sensors, which "rest just under the ball's laces, can capture information like velocity, acceleration and distance." The league and its 32 franchises already "collect on-field data from players during every game, and many teams collect data at practices, too." Illinois-based data tracking firm Zebra Technologies "created the sensors the NFL is testing with its footballs and is in its third season using similar sensors inserted into players' shoulder pads to track their location, speed and distance traveled." Last year, Zebra "captured game data for all 32 teams, but the NFL didn't release any of it until the season was over." This year, teams will "get game data within 24 hours after the game is over." The data also is "good business" for the NFL, as the info could make "television broadcasts more appealing, which might mean more viewers" (RECODE.net, 8/29).
FUTURE OF FOOTBALL: In S.F., Benny Evangelista notes the data, which is "fed into a special command center at Zebra Technologies in San Jose, could eventually combine with computerized artificial intelligence and machine learning to dictate the game plans of head coaches." Zebra VP & GM of Location Services Jill Stelfox said, "Data like this can be used in many different ways, like how you line up, who you put in the first quarter or in the fourth quarter." Evangelista notes it is a "sea change for a sport that for decades has judged the worth of its players based on simple numbers, such as total number of passing yards or quarterback sacks." Zebra Sports GM Eric Petrosinelli said, "When you think about it, statistics in the NFL have really been stagnant for the better part of 20 years." Zebra has "installed 20 to 25 devices in each stadium that read the signals and transmit the data to San Jose, where about a dozen Zebra employees can see the location data displayed on their screens a few seconds before the TV broadcast feed." Meanwhile, NFL broadcasters are "using the data in their telecasts, and the data already helps feed the Next Gen Stats feature of the NFL app for owners of Microsoft's Xbox One home video game consoles." Pertosinelli notes Zebra is also working with the NBA D-League and has "run test with other sports" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 8/30).
