Menu
Leagues and Governing Bodies

NFL licensing performance data

The NFL is licensing a newly created category of player-performance data culled from its July deal with Zebra Technologies, which outfits players with radio transmitters that track their on-field movements.

The league currently is auctioning this suite of “next-generation stats,” with five bidders so far, including Stats LLC and Perform Group, sources said. The Zebra technology offers statistics ranging from how fast players are running to how quickly a wide receiver gains separation from a defensive back. Broadcasters of NFL games have been using the new stats this season in their coverage.

Zebra Technologies has given the NFL a new generation of stats.
Photo by: ZEBRA TECHNOLOGIES CORP.
The NFL expects the new data to quickly become sought after as new material for fantasy sports and other sites.

{podcast}

SBJ Podcast:
In the latest NFL "Behind The Headlines" podcast, NFL writer Daniel Kaplan and Executive Editor Abraham Madkour discuss the NFL's return to London with a Sunday morning start time on U.S. TV, as well as the league's prospects in Los Angeles and other topics.

Stats is the incumbent that holds the license to sell “traditional” NFL data, which includes figures like rushing yards, touchdowns and passing-completion percentages. But the NFL’s contract with Stats, which was acquired by private equity firm Vista Equity Partners earlier this year, expires after this season, sources said.

The current auction is for a bundle that would include both the traditional and the next-generations stats, the sources said. The NFL owns the data, not Zebra.

“There is an enormous amount of potential, enormous growth,” said Tom Richardson, founder and president of Convergence Sports & Media, a sports technology and media consultant. “The millennial generation is used to stats based in ‘Madden’ and digital video games. Let’s assume, likely, that technology is only going to get more sophisticated. [That] would arguably make the data that more valuable.”

The NFL declined to comment. Stats and Perform also declined to comment.

An example of data from Zebra Technologies’ work this season shows J.J. Watt’s running speed during a fumble return.
Photo by: ZEBRA TECHNOLOGIES CORP.
Perhaps the most obvious buyer of these next-generation statistics are fantasy sports sites. Since 2006, the number of fantasy sports players in North America has grown from 19.7 million to 41.5 million, according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association. It is not hard to imagine games emerging to incorporate the new data. And while the NFL has strained to distance itself from gambling, Richardson said gamblers would readily consume the newest batch of data as well. For example, he said, prop bets — gambles on individuals plays, like who touches the ball first — could expand to who runs fastest or who is quickest off the line.

The sources did not have an estimate for what the NFL might fetch for the data.

The NFL is in year one with Zebra after testing that was done in 2013 and has 17 of its 31 stadiums outfitted to handle the data. It’s unclear how long the NFL’s contract with Zebra stretches.

Zebra’s radio frequency identification tags are placed in players’ shoulder pads and tracked on-site.
Photo by: ZEBRA TECHNOLOGIES CORP.
Zebra, a Nasdaq-listed company, manufactures bar-code technology used in industrial plants to track parts. It molded that technology to fit the NFL uses, and the company recently hired its first head of sports, Eric Petrosinelli, a veteran sports marketer. He is expected to open a New York office soon.

Jill Stelfox, general manager and vice president of location solutions for Zebra, said other properties have inquired about the company’s products but that Zebra’s focus for now is on its NFL business.

To date, there are no comparable paradigms in other leagues. Those leagues’ data feeds come from results on the field, court or rink, not from tracking technology.

“We expect to be able to transform the business of player tracking across the industry,” she said, “but for now we are focused on ensuring that our NFL implementation and performance is at the very highest level.”

For implementation, the company’s radio frequency identification tags are placed in players’ shoulder pads, and their movements are tracked on-site by a Zebra employee using a console. There is also a network operations center at Zebra’s location in San Jose that keeps tabs on all games.

The NFL is expected to choose a winner of the auction by the end of the year, sources said.

Tests from last season, which helped seal the deal with the NFL, show possibilities for statistics and comparisons.
Photo by: ZEBRA TECHNOLOGIES CORP.

Hans Schroeder, senior vice president, NFL media strategy and development, is overseeing the auction. He reports to Brian Rolapp, executive vice president of NFL media.

CBS, NBC and ESPN have been using the next-generation stats in their coverage of the NFL this year. For example, when Houston’s J.J. Watt returned a fumble in a recent game against Indianapolis, CBS showed the tracing technology and data for how fast he was running with the ball.

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2014/10/27/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/NFL-next-gen-stats.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2014/10/27/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/NFL-next-gen-stats.aspx

CLOSE