New technology at EverBank Field

Last weekend I had the pleasure of watching my favorite NFL team, the Miami Dolphins, play a struggling Jacksonville Jaguars team. And although I was sitting in literally the last row of the stadium, I didn't miss a moment of the action thanks to the newly installed 60 by 362 foot video boards behind both endzones. I was so intrigued by the giant monitors that I wanted to look deeper into some details regarding them. Each of these boards contain 35.5 million LED bulbs and display Ultra HD 8k video at a resolution of 7680 x 1080. The production servers powering these displays are capable of showing replays from 18 different camera feeds on a 21,700 square foot digital canvas.

While the display board was definitely impressive, I personally thought they could have better used the outer portions of the screen displaying graphical information. They only offered game stats of the home team, and seemed littered with social updates from people tweeting about their game experience. I also thought it was interesting that there were smaller video boards in the corners of the stadium showing other games around the NFL. It gave me the impression that the team on the field is not interesting enough to watch, which could entirely be the case. But overall I like that the NFL and the team's owners are trying to improve fan experience at the game. Another added technological amenity added at EverBank Field includes Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the stadium, so the fans can stay updated with their fantasy team and post to their social media pages. Check out this cool video about how these enormous jumbotrons were installed:

How Technology is Tackling Concussions

This week I'll be discussing the issue of concussions in football, and how new technology is being used to monitor the impact that athletes take to their heads. Concussions are one of the most prevalent injuries in the high impact sport of football. And recently it has become a major issue, since the NFL has recently found that three out of ten retired players will develop a debilitating brain disease. And because of this, the NFL recently settled a lawsuit which compensates players over $675 million for concussion related injuries. (Dale)
But the most difficult part about concussions is that they can be so hard to diagnose, and even harder to determine how long a player should be held out after they have been concussed. And since concussions are not visible injuries, players often hide the signs of a concussion in effort to keep playing in the game. This however can be detrimental to a player's brain, as a serious concussion can cause permanent injury or even death.

While the new technologies being implemented won't prevent players from getting concussions, they will provide real-time measurements recorded within the player's helmet. So when a player takes a hard hit to the helmet area the sensors will measure the impact and determine if there was enough force to cause a concussion. This eliminates the guessing game that is determining if a player has a concussion, as well as prevent the player from playing through an injury and potentially causing grave damage. Football programs across the country are starting to utilize concussion sensors like the ones Shockbox produces, and not just in the NFL but even under the Friday night lights of high school football. And for good reason, since an Institute of Medicine and National Research Council report found that high school football players have almost twice the risk of getting a concussion compared to college athletes. (Castillo)
Unfortunately I don't think we can ever prevent a player from getting a concussion, however I do believe that the introduction of concussion sensor technology greatly reduces the chance of a player getting consecutive concussions. This is a step in the right direction for the sport of football, which has seen leagues go as far as changing rules to prevent concussion related injuries. At least now coaches and trainers will have real time data to find out if they can keep their player's head in the game.

References:

Castillo, M. (2014, September 19). 4 cool tech innovations that could revolutionize sports. Retrieved October 12, 2014, from http://theweek.com/article/index/267865/4-cool-tech-innovations-that-could-revolutionize-sports


Dale, M. (2014, September 12). NFL: 3 in 10 ex-players face Alzheimer's, dementia. Retrieved October 12, 2014, from http://bigstory.ap.org/article/estimate-3-10-nfl-retirees-face-cognitive-woes?utm_campaign=NFL&utm_source=SocialFlow&utm_medium=Twitter

Tablets and Football

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With the increasing popularity of tablet computers in today's consumer market, like the Apple iPad and Microsoft Surface devices, even sport teams in the NFL are taking advantage of the new technologies available. Old fashioned communication devices like the pen, paper and clipboard, and even dry erase white boards are seen less and less on the sidelines around the league, only to be replaced with electronic equivalents. With the help of these new tablets, NFL teams are able to fully embrace the technology available in today's world with the hopes of winning more football games. While the NFL is limiting what applications can be used during the game, there are still plenty of applications available to help players and coaches prepare for the next big game.

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For pre-game preparations, there are apps like Coach's Eye which allow for instant video replays and advice on how the play could have run more efficiently. During the game the coach can draw up a play using the CoachBase digital playbook app. And after the game an app called Hudl can be used to watch video from previous games to correct on mistakes made. So as you can see, tablets and their applications can help sports teams at every level of the game. And the increasing affordability of tablets makes this a valuable coaching tool not only at the professional level, but even in college and high school athletics.