GPS systems to be installed on NFL players in 2014

Via BostonHerald.com

Technology advances in the NFL are going deeper than ever before. Do you want to know how fast Amendola accelerated? Do you want to know if Brady really did have Dobson open in the end zone? Well we may know the answers to these questions live to air while watching games this fall.

Via Mike Pelissero, USA Today:

Every NFL player will wear two tiny sensors in his shoulder pads this season in the first "live" phase of a project the league hopes will enhance the in-stadium experience.

The NFL partnered with Zebra Technologies to bring the Madden in game like interaction to football. But how exactly does the technology work?

Zebra's sensors are oblong, less than the circumference of a quarter and installed under the top cup of the shoulder pad. They blink with a signal 25 times a second and run on a watch battery. About 20 receivers (electrical not wide) will be placed around the bands between the upper and lower decks of the 17 stadiums that were selected for use this year. They'll provide a cross-section of environments and make sure the technology is operational across competitive settings before full deployment.

Sensors also will be attached to officials and yardage sticks. The technology isn't accurate enough yet to put a sensor in the ball and, say, tell whether it crossed the goal line. But it is accurate within less than six inches, said general manager of Zebra's location solutions division general manager of Zebra's location solutions division. And thats not where it ends Zebra is also developing a device for the 2015 season that includes Bluetooth technology to measure players' heart rate, lung capacity and temperature as well — another step towards producing data that is not only entertaining, but useful to teams and players.

I'm not sure how you feel, but I'm on the fence. Ok I get its a plus of coarse to measure these statistics, when factoring in injury and concussions, but isn't that getting a bit excessive? Isn't that taking away from the human element of the game? And where do we draw the line?


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