Wireless Wednesday for 9/9/15: New NFL Technology

With the NFL season kicking off in a matter of hours, Rick and Mitch take a look at some of the new technology debuting this season in the National Football League.

Have a listen:

1.   Referees looking at "Instant Replays" on tablets

** This was tested in the preseason
instant replay reviews by referees.

“Now, instead of waiting for the referees to go under the hood, they will be able to view the image on the tablet and say: ‘Look at this angle. The guy is out of bounds,’ ” said Jeff Tran, Microsoft’s director of sports and alliances from the devices and studios marketing group.  “And he’ll be able to share it with the other referees in the crew, and they can make the determination on the challenge.”

2.  A Pen -   but not just an ordinary pen

A pen that allows coaches and players to diagram on the screen “ under any weather conditions. ”The pen function allows coaches to annotate on top of high-resolution images in different colors to help players visualize the instruction. During the preseason trial, the pen will also allow coaches to annotate over film clips, too.

There’s also an application on the Surface Pro 3 that is a digital version of a whiteboard that coaches use in meeting rooms to diagram plays.

3.  NFL's Extension of the Partnership with Twitter

The National Football League and social media giant Twitter have entered into a two-year partnership that will make more multimedia content available to roughly 300 million Twitter users. Details of the deal indicate that the NFL will triple the volume of photographs and in-game highlights that are distributed on the social network.
That covers highlights from the start of the NFL pre-season all the way through Super Bowl 50 on February 7, 2016. Besides video of the most exciting plays during games, NFL’s social media team will be publishing infographics as well as overall game recaps specifically developed for the Twitter audience. Of course, the NFL also has agreements with social networks like Facebook and online video distribution networks like YouTube, thus it’s likely similar content will be available outside of Twitter.

While Twitter representatives declined to comment, it’s highly likely that NFL content will be integrated heavily into Twitter’s “Project Lightning.” Demoed to Buzzfeed during June 2015, the new format will package content from ongoing real-time events into a new design for users. This content will be hand-selected by a team of editors within Twitter and attempt to provide more comprehensive coverage of events like award shows, sporting events and important stories trending in the news.
 


4. App Evolution

The NFL and its teams, with help from tech innovators, have launched a slew of apps for fans. The league launched NFL Now last summer, teams have launched their own follower-focused apps and The New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers have launched game day, venue-oriented apps. All are essentially about raising engagement with fans.

NFL partner Verizon Wireless offers NFL Mobile which can allow users to stream live primetime matches and more. It’s safe to assume that AT&T’s buy up of DirecTV, if approved, will result in a NFL Sunday Ticket app for its 100 million plus wireless subscribers.

The league offers yet other apps/services and all the content to power the apps and other distribution channels. But are more needed or is what’s available enough? And you can expect the league to enhance and advance NFL Now for its second season debut. To recap, it provides live non-game content and on-demand programming customizable by team and player.
 

5.  NFL Expanding "Live Streaming" to fans outside the US

NFL is still trying to figure this out, but live streaming of NFL games will be avaialble to fans in more countries.
 

6.  One thing we won't be seeing in 2015 will be Drones hovering over the line of scrimmage
Not a single drone has flown -- at least not for football purposes -- in training camps. Some teams have been delayed or deterred by FAA regulations, but based on recent conversations with multiple coaches, there remains a fair degree of skepticism about the current value and necessity of drone videos.

Advocates say a drone's ability to hover close to the line of scrimmage offers a unique vantage point for teaching and correcting mistakes. As of now, however, only a few NFL decision-makers agree.

"We looked at it hard, and for us it's just not there yet," Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh said.


App of the Week:

NFL CONNECT

* Free for iOS, Android and Windows
Watching your team take on its hated rivals can really stoke your competitive fire. If you want to channel that energy into more than screaming at your screen, consider downloading NFL Connect. This free app puts you in a head-to-head competition with friends and rivals during a live game. You win by predicting and connecting in-game events such as touchdowns, penalties, and sacks.
To participate in this Bingo-like battle, you and your opponent choose a matchup—the Sept. 10 Steelers vs. Patriots game, for example. Each of you is given a game board of 16 randomly generated events that will likely happen during the football game. The goal is to be the first to connect a string of four consecutive events. “Connecting” gets you on the leader board where you’re ranked with other top players. As a bonus, a built-in chat feature lets you talk trash throughout your match.