New York, NY. — With the NFL preseason kickoff behind us, football has begun to creep into the minds of many Americans. But preseason isn’t the only buzzworthy item in the NFL. This football season, Wilson is launching the first ever smart football. Similar to Wilson’s Connected X Basketball that launched in 2015, the new Connected X Football allows you to track your performance with every throw providing data, ranking, and endless entertainment. Kevin Murphy, General Manager of Wilson Team Sports noted, “Our products are not just used to get in shape, they’re something that brings people together.”
The official NFL football provider announced that the smart ball will be available for presale today and will officially go on sale September 8th for $199.99 on Wilson.com. In order to use the smart ball you must download the app which will be available for both iOS and Android. In the app you can customize your avatar with both male and female players, and choose from all 32 NFL teams. Bob Thurman, Vice President of Innovation at Wilson mentioned that “the fastest growing audience for the NFL is female, so allowing users to make the avatar male or female was important to us.”
Here’s how the ball works:
There is a small quarter-sized sensor located in the middle of the ball. The sensor lasts approximately 500 hours of throwing (not including the time the ball is in sleep mode), which is essentially equivalent to a 2-year lifespan. The sensor records the user’s velocity, spin, spiral accuracy, distance, and if the ball was caught or dropped by the receiver.
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Through 5 different games available on the app, users can play and view their ranking and stats immediately after. Games include: QB warmup – simply throwing the ball back and forth, Elimination – a multi-player challenge where you must accomplish each task or you’re eliminated, Precision – throw accuracy, Game Time –the quarterback chooses plays and manages the clock,. Final drive – the quarterback has one last possession and it’s on you to win the game. For reference, Russell Wilson received an overall score of 1553.5, so good luck beating that.
With the recent developments in interactive games such as Pokemon Go and now Wilson’s Connected X Football, we’re no longer in an era where computer or video games are played sitting on the couch. The new Connected X Football allows fans to get that adrenaline pump from playing video games like Madden and technology has made it possible to be active while being interactive.
This was a guest article by Hannah Herreid, she can be followed on Twitter at @Hannah_Herreid.