Starting this season, the National Football League will use RFID (radio frequency identification) tracking technology to make football more of a numbers game, according to a recent NFL press release.
The NFL is working with Illinois-based Zebra Technologies to track player speeds, distance and patterns on the field by adding RFID sensors to players' shoulder pads. Seventeen stadiums will have the equipment needed to receive and record what the league calls “Next Generation Stats,” which will be stored in the NFL's cloud. That data can be processed in a matter of seconds for use in-stadium, and sent directly to broadcasters to use on-screen.
The goal is to provide coaches, broadcasters and even fantasy football fanatics with data that could change how the game is played both on and off the field. The data gathered from the tracking chips can show player positioning, when a player starts to fatigue, speeds and other details in real time. In an effort to make the playing field fair, teams will not have access to this data until the 2015 season, when all stadiums will have the same tech and data can be tested, USA Today reports.
An investment in data
With the average NFL team valued at roughly $1.43 billion, there’s no such thing as too much data when it comes to improving everything from the front office to the backfield.
While this is the first foray into real-time player tracking for the NFL, the NBA has been tracking player movements using motion-detecting cameras to collect and distribute data since the 2013-2014 season, as reported by Grantland. Zebra's "MotionWorks" technology is unique, however, when it comes to football, since it relies solely on RFID tags. The company is also working with Michael Waltrip Racing, a NASCAR training development facility, to track driver data.
Zebra has been supplying Ford and GM with similar technology for years. Both companies use the data gathered to track and record the automobile manufacturing process, which helps to streamline production. The RFID tags can be attached directly to parts like cylinder heads and engine blocks to track things like engine assembly, Popular Mechanics reports.
Viewing a very small amount of data collected by the tags, plant managers can see every step that an engine has gone through from the starting phase to completion. If part of an engine has not been added, the data will reflect this mishap. When used on the assembly line, "RFID reduces human mistakes and guarantees correct data tracking," Andreas Somogyi, global program manager of wireless warehouse solutions at Rockwell Automation Inc, told Assembly Magazine.
Zebra also plans to take the technology to the next level for NFL players in 2015, with a new model that has the ability to monitor heart rate, temperature and lung capacity, The Verge reports.
The first tracked game kicked off in early September, with the Bills vs. the Bears at Soldier Field. This season, all of that data will be collected as part of a trial run, but you can expect to see RFID tracking details on your TV screen at every game starting in 2015.
