Football is a cruel sport. There’s no arguing that. It’s a game in which your success is directly proportional to your ability to physically dominate the man standing across from you. It’s played by only the fastest, strongest, and most aggressive athletes in the world. The foremost beneficiaries of the evolutionary process all gather together on one field to assert their dominance on one another until someone submits. It’s savage, it’s pure, and that’s why we love it. However, in 2015, is there a reason that the technology surrounding the sport is still as primitive as the game itself?
The rest of the sports world has evolved with the technological advancements of the times. World Cup soccer has experimented with ball chip technology to conclusively determine the legitimacy of goals. Olympic swimming pools have sensors to help establish definitive finishing times. Even the MLB, notoriously skeptical of technology and slow to change, has implemented in-game instant replay and managerial challenges. Why is the NFL still using big orange pylons and clunky chains to determine scoring and yardage?
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It seems that the league is on the brink of making some changes in regards to these two archaic aspects of the game. “‘We’re looking at a whole new future that largely centers around data as well as helping the game monitor statistics and the ball position on field, the down and distance that’s required to get a first down or possibly when a touchdown is scored,” said Bob Thurman, vice president of research and development at Wilson, the NFL’s official football manufacturer.
Not only will this technology impact the accuracy and speed in which the game is called, but it will also impact how we look at the data and statistics of the game. NFL players’ shoulder pads are already equipped with sensors to detect player speed and report data back to teams analysis. With these potential advancements, the NFL has also been considering the prospect of creating a Virtual Reality viewing experience for fans.
So often, the final outcome of games are determined by plays in which the officials must make a judgment call on the spot of the ball or the break of the endzone plain. These technological advancements that Thurman alluded to would eliminate any doubt in situations like this, and keep fans from feeling robbed or cheated out of a victory. These changes can only do good for the game of football and one can hope to see more changes like this as technology offers opportunity for the savage game to evolve.