Beginning with the MLB’s introduction of Statcast, the sports world seemed to realize just how incredible tracking technology could be in the acquisition of never-before-known statistics.
The NFL has responded with their own “Official On-Field Player Tracking Provider,” Zebra Technologies, and will place radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips in the shoulder pads of every player this season in order to attain data that will go into the NFL app on Xbox One and Windows 10 systems, according to Wired’s Tim Moynihan.
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To access the RFID information, users will find a section of the NFL app titled “Next Gen Stats.” There will be a few options within this feature—perhaps the most innovative being a Madden NFL-like screen where players are turned into digital versions of themselves, called “Next Gen Replay.” With this, you will be able to toggle between players during selected highlights of plays from an actual NFL game. From any which angle, you will be able to see the selected player’s speed and distance covered at any moment of the play.
Outside of this feature, there will be an area within “Next Gen Stats” entitled “Afterburner.” Here, the NFL will continuously update the speediest players in the NFL, showcasing their individual highlights.
To make the app even more interactive, there will be a little game included in the app, dubbed “NGS Pick’em,” which will prompt you to choose eight to 10 players that you think will travel the farthest or run the fastest over the course of the game. You will then be able to compare with users around the world with Microsoft’s social component.
All of these features will be ready for the third NFL preseason game.
For avid fans and sports news outlets, this means additional statistics like how many yards a running back has actually gained, and how much distance star players will cover during a game.
This is fairly innovative technology, and a great way to engage fans, but the specificity of the platforms that the NFL is releasing this to does appear a bit strange. The Xbox One has not had the most successful start to its short existence, and the NFL is limiting its outreach with this all of this cool, new information. At least the MLB includes Statcast data on both their broadcasts and leaderboards.
At the end of the day, the NFL does have a partnership with Microsoft to uphold— but hopefully this information and technology will be made more easily available to a wider audience in due time.