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Our 2013 NFL Tech Series follows all 32 NFL teams up until kickoff on Week 1. Each feature includes the latest from each organization, spanning stadium WiFi upgrades, mobile technology, fan engagement, and the tech used by players and coaches to gain an edge. Front office personnel and technology staff throughout the league provided an inside look at how each team plans on improving their franchise through hi-tech advancements. In this new age of technology in sports we are uncovering the many new innovations and strategies being used by teams and where the present and future of NFL technology lies. Today, we look at the Cincinnati Bengals and their second time appearing on HBO’s Hard Knocks in the last five years.
After a season in which the Cincinnati Bengals lost a close divisional playoff game to the Houston Texans, the team has been waiting all summer to get back at it for the 2013 season. With star wide receiver AJ Green in the fold and franchise quarterback Andy Dalton, the Bengals franchise is looking to rekindle the glory days of the Boomer Esiason era and make a playoff run for the first time since the 1980’s.
Hard Knocks
The biggest thing the Bengals have done this season is enter into the HBO series Hard Knocks for the second time in the last five years. The show has given fans a unique perspective into the in’s and out’s of an NFL camp and it is an impressive feat for the Cincinnati Bengals to allow the film crew for the 2nd time in five years. Many teams in the NFL have adamantly turned down the opportunity for Hard Knocks, but Bengals coach Marvin Lewis sees positives in showcasing his team during its most stressful time for the fan base.
“The feedback we got from our experience with Hard Knocks in 2009 was outstanding,” said Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis. “Our fans enjoyed it tremendously and we’re happy to try and provide that same experience again. Our fans love the NFL and they enjoy seeing things they don’t normally get to see. We have some outstanding men, both as players and as people. They’ve got great charisma to go along with their football skills, and the Hard Knocks treatment allows for both to shine through.”
Security Gets An Upgrade
The main tech innovation at Paul Brown Stadium is a tech innovation that increased security at the stadium. As recently as 2009, many employees at Paul Brown Stadium were issued master keys that they took home with them after work. The practice as risky and many locks on the doors of the stadium would have to be changed throughout the season due to misplaced keys.
The old system relied upon a handwritten data entry record that didn’t incorporate accountability or much organization.
“We were spending a lot of time documenting keys to restrooms or telecommunications closets,” says Aaron K. Jones, the stadium’s Security Manager. “Stadium management also recognized that the practice of taking master keys off the premises was not wise, and it had to stop.”
Jones chose to bring on KeyWatcher key control and management systems and in his words “Our stadium security staff thinks this is one of the best things we have ever done to improve our operations.”
The 96-key-capacity KeyWatcher cabinet, located in the Paul Brown security office is open at all hours of the night and houses the facility’s master keys, which can open any door in the stadium, and several levels of “sub-masters” that can open a specific area or type of door, such as doors in the food service areas or doors to the administrative offices.
All the master keys are scanned into the system at the end of the work day and kept secure until the work crew comes into work the next day, The system allows access to facility keys only to workers with assigned access through biometric scan of an employee thumb combined with a four digit access code. Many of the staffers who need keys are contractors and it made sense to use a biometric identification rather than using the old employee security system which was not as efficient as the KeyWatcher system.
Going Forward
While the Cincinnati Bengals are not the most technologically advanced team in the NFL, the effort to connect with their fans through Hard Knocks can’t be discounted since many teams are not interested in this type of distraction during their training camp.
While the stadium is only 25 years old it seems to have lagged behind many of the new stadiums throughout the NFL, although the on-field product is set to take a big step during the 2013 season. It is one of the more talented rosters in the NFL and even if Paul Brown Stadium doesn’t provide the bells and whistles of other stadiums,hopefully the Bengals can end the playoff winless streak that dates back to 1990.