New Age Tracking Devices On Nfl Players Coming Soon
November 26, 2012 in Sports News
The NFL has been experimenting with new and advanced methods to gather specific data on the performance of NFL players. Already this year, a few players are wearing small chips inside their shoulder pads during some NFL games. They are looking at different ways to gather more detailed information on player performance that can be displayed to fans via the internet in real time.
If this actually works out, fans might be able to see images and recreations of plays and games in real time based on the motion capture data. The applications for integration this data into existing games such as the Madden Consoles seems limitless and will take the fan even further than ever before into the huddle and onto the playing field. The NFL is obviously taking it’s time on this project and it is not projected to be available any time soon. But, look out, it’s coming.
The motion capture monitors will be able to track how fast players are running, how fast they accelerate and even show the angle of the cut that a wide receiver makes going down field. What’s next? Are they going to put a little camera on top of Eli’s helmet so that we can get a quarterbacks eye view of the action. They already do that with NASCAR! However, loading up football with sensors on their person will take some getting used to. The eventual goal is to see the data quickly assimilated into various products, including games.
Instead of just seeing a real time update of a 30 yard pass from Drew Brees to Jimmy Grahm, which today shows up as a sentence on web sites such as NFL.com, internet viewers would actually be able to see the route develop in a representation on the web. They could tell if he broke off his route or how he got to the ball. Viewers world be able to see how much ground Grahm covered and how fast, all available within an instant in an active stats platform.
There is even the potential, so far not explored by the NFL, to use these devices to measure collisions, G-forces or concussion related data. Now that might be useful. So far, they seem to be focusing on the advanced technology not as a way to make the game safer for the players, but simply as a way make more money.