RFID tags have now invaded the sporting fraternity.
This was revealed yesterday during the ongoing NetEvents Global Press and Analyst Summit in San Jose, California.
One such company making moves in this niche industry is Zebra Technologies. ITWeb toured the firm's offices in San Jose yesterday, during which executives discussed how they are using technology to improve sport performance.
Zebra Technologies says analytics enhancements will allow fans to gain a deeper understanding of the American football matches game by accessing new visualisations, statistics and fantasy recommendations that were not available before.
In collaboration with Wilson Sporting Goods, supplier of the Official Game Football of the National Football League (NFL), Zebra will engineer and deploy RFID tagged footballs for every game during the 2017 NFL season. This enables the collection of real-time location, speed and rotation data for the footballs.
To enable data collection during NFL games, Zebra and Wilson attach RFID tags in player equipment to track their movements and provide enlightening and interesting information.
Zebra says as part of "Next Gen Stats", data from the instrumented Wilson footballs has the potential to be leveraged on media platforms, such as NFL.com and in-game telecasts, to enhance the fan experience.
Beyond media platform use, the NFL's Competition Committee will evaluate the football data to determine how the NFL Clubs can best leverage the data in the future. Working with the NFL and Wilson, Zebra successfully tested the tagged football during all last year's preseason and Thursday Night Football games.
"We are thrilled to further support the NFL's mission to enhance football through cutting-edge technology by continuing to grow the Zebra Sports solutions portfolio. Tracking the football is the logical next phase of our collaboration with the NFL, and we're eager to continue evolving the game of football for fans, broadcasters and coaches alike," says Jill Stelfox, vice-president and general manager for location solutions at Zebra Technologies.
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