Whether you will be watching your favorite football matches at home of from the various stadium this season, be rest assured that emerging technologies will be the third-eye that will help to monitor in-play events. Such exponential technologies have been integrated in the system to improve the quality of the game of football. They include drones, beacons, virtual reality, and wearable, which will aid referees, fans, coaches, stadium owners, and even players to monitor the progress of the game for enhanced entertainment.
The following are the five leading technological advancements that will barrage the football network in the 2017 season.
1. Machine Learning & Wearables
With the aim of improving the performance of players in the long run, players will have trackers that will help to gather vital information about their actual progress during the game. Many fans may not see these sports trackers embedded under their players’ jerseys, but these gadgets feed a lot of data into machine learning systems. In the process, coaches can compare and contrast their players’ activities, including agility, speed and acceleration, and distinguish those who are at their peak performance and those who needs rest. These wearables will become inevitable in the forthcoming seasons, as franchises could use the data to negotiate contracts as well.
2. Mixed Reality Practice
Since injuries have become inevitable in the sport of football, mixed reality practice helps to reduce them by including holograms in the training ground, especially for receivers. The Baltimore Ravens have already introduced this technology for every player to prevent unforeseen injuries even during practice battles. The receivers are provided with mixed reality helmets with the aim of experiencing an on-field practice similar to an actual game where they run against defenses without fatally colliding into opponents.
3. Helmet Cameras
With more than thirty NFL and College teams already using this technology, especially on quarterbacks, helmet cameras provide a 360-degree view of their surroundings. The next season will have many instances where these mini-cameras will be used to capture players in the training ground. They are also very portable and tiny, with others weighing approximately one ounce. As the technology rips the NFL, a group of hardware manufacturers have suggested a proposal to provide fans with helmet cams in future seasons to enable them have a spot-on on-field experience. Meanwhile, the NFL will have to rely on the 360-replay technology, which combines 38 camera views into one.
4. Drones and Bio-metrics: Improving Fan Safety at the Stadium
With the aim of increasing the safety levels of fans at the stadium, the NFL could fully implement off-the-field technology, including facial recognition software at the entrance, RF sensors, radar as well as multi-sensor anti-drone tracking systems to weed out hooligans and suspected felons from the crowd.
5. Augmented Reality
Invention of the Augmented Reality (AR) aims to amplify the in-stadium experience. This revolutionary technology in sports comes to rescue fans from poor in-venue experience that had not been fully integrated. Even though televised programming has tremendously improved in the last few decades, low-cost AR glasses will enable fans to view custom-built live visuals, watch games, monitor their fantasy teams, and order meals from their seats. The fan base now demands enjoyable moments from the sidelines, which obligates tech firms come up with innovative digital technologies to address the issue fully, especially in the NFL.
