Expanding technology to the ball (2 Viewers)

Tony1Saintfan

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Someone who’s a little more tech savvy than me might shoot this down or provide more information on it. It seem to me that gps chips have gotten small enough in size that we should be able to somehow incorporate one or more into the ball itself. I know it would take some work to make it so it didn’t effect the flight of the ball either while passing or kicking.
This would all be done to improve placement of the ball and to determine if the ball actually breaks the plane of the goal line. It would also be nice if something could be done with the field to detect the exact location of the ball.
 
GPS tracking wouldn't work. The military grade reception only gets you down to a few meters. The civilian band is multiples larger. It's fine for a lot of things especially when you can extrapolate due to roadways and add in cell data, but the accuracy needed for football placement would be impossible.

That said, an RFID system might be possible. I'd guess you'd have to line the bottom of the field with them and then put specifically placed chips in the football to determine it's location and orientation.

That said, you'd still have the issue of when is the player deemed down? That would be the trickier part to sort out. It's likely possible, but at some point in doing it, you no longer are playing football as we know it.
 
I think there’s a way to determine if the ball crosses the goal line or to determine exactly where it goes out of bounds on the sidelines. I read something about it a while back. The NFL has the technology, but hasn’t chosen to use it yet for whatever reason.
 
They are already putting RFID's in the football. It's where Zebra technologies (and Next Gen Stats) get some of its data. Sean Payton talks about it often in interviews (they sponsor his interviews). He says they could eventually use it to help spot the ball, track where the ball goes out-of-bounds on punts and crosses the goal line. The players also have chips in their shoulder pads to track all kinds of stuff.

As of 2017 it only had 6 inches of accuracy so it would need to be better than that first. Not sure if it's there by now.

 
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I'm sure the technology exists. It just hasn't been implemented. Would probably cost a fortune with all the balls. Not only could you track whether the ball crossed the goal line or not, you could know for sure whether 1st downs were made, where the ball goes out of bounds on punts, and more. I wouldn't necessarily want them to take the place of traditional spotting, but if there are doubts among refs, it could be checked, and teams could also have ball spots challenged. My thoughts. I think it would be pretty cool.
 
They are already putting RFID's in the football. It's where Zebra technologies (and Next Gen Stats) get some of its data. Sean Payton talks about it often in interviews (they sponsor his interviews). He says they could eventually use it to help spot the ball, track where the ball goes out-of-bounds on punts and crosses the goal line. The players also have chips in their shoulder pads to track all kinds of stuff.

As of 2017 it only had 6 inches of accuracy so it would need to be better than that first. Not sure if it's there by now.

My company uses Zebra technology for ordering/receiving/inventory operations and it is a dang game changer!!!!!
@Tony1Saintfan .....what you are thinking is correct. The Zebra technology most likely houses all of the capabilities (or soon will) to make the game more accurate (down/distance). The only issue is there still needs to be a human element to dictate games for the NFL😉
As of now, there are chips throughout the field, to game gear (helmets/pads/balls), pylons, etc. Soon the game day experience will be extremely enhanced.
 
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See this is why I made this post. People who are much smarter than me know these things. I can tell you anything you need to know about a few things but you guys have got it going on.
 
A mesh inside the outer layer of the football with a sensor stretching the length of the outer edge of the goal line. Seems simple enough in theory. But that would take major decisions out of the refs hands. Nfl can’t have that.

Not when you are influencing desired outcomes.
 
In uk football (soccer) they have goal line technology where if the ball crosses the goal line the referee will get a notification on a watch to say goal or no goal. So the technology is definitely there.
That is based on high speed cameras... for football, the tech has to be able to see through a pile of players and detect the ball location relative to the end zone or the 10 yard marker.
 
I'm sure the technology exists. It just hasn't been implemented. Would probably cost a fortune with all the balls. Not only could you track whether the ball crossed the goal line or not, you could know for sure whether 1st downs were made, where the ball goes out of bounds on punts, and more. I wouldn't necessarily want them to take the place of traditional spotting, but if there are doubts among refs, it could be checked, and teams could also have ball spots challenged. My thoughts. I think it would be pretty cool.

The only unknown for the tech will be when a player is down by contact... The balls location has to be determined at that point of time. One could put chips on the clothing over the knees, elbows.
 
In uk football (soccer) they have goal line technology where if the ball crosses the goal line the referee will get a notification on a watch to say goal or no goal. So the technology is definitely there.

I also wonder if it is because time for advertisement. Advance technology would remove alot of down time, ill imagine without all the booth reviews, chain gangs, challenges etc, there would be alot of commercials either forced and feel out of place or will be played while watching the game. Advertising plays a big part of american TV and the success of NFL I doubt they want to give that up. BUT That is one thing i enjoy about watching Soccer, it feels more fluid to watch.
 

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