July 31, 2014

NFL Players Will Have Tracking Chips in Shoulder Pads: NFL players this regular season will have RFID chips in their shoulder pads that enable their movements to be tracked in real time. Signal receivers at 17 NFL stadiums will collect and report the data in real time so it can be presented to broadcasters and fans. The 17 stadiums include all 15 that will host Thursday Night Football games. A not-yet-attained goal of the chips is to put them in footballs for first down and touchdown measurement.

posted by rcade to football at 05:52 PM - 9 comments

I'm looking forward to the on-screen graphics telling us the Michael Bradley covered more ground in 4 games in the World Cup than the entire NFL combined in week 1.

posted by bender at 08:22 PM on July 31, 2014

No mention of attaching chips to the shoulders of players who render their companions unconscious.

posted by beaverboard at 09:15 PM on July 31, 2014

How does soccer measure how far players run in a game?

posted by rcade at 12:22 PM on August 01, 2014

How does soccer measure how far players run in a game?

It probably involves some of the same formulas Allan Pinkerton used to estimate enemy troop numbers.

posted by Bonkers at 02:20 PM on August 01, 2014

How does soccer measure how far players run in a game?

The German team uses cleat monitors to track that sort of data.

posted by beaverboard at 04:17 PM on August 01, 2014

For the World Cup, I think they used SportVU to generate player distance run info.

posted by beaverboard at 06:59 PM on August 01, 2014

Re the first comment: How far would Michael Bradley run after a 260 pound linebacker shouldered him in the mid-section? Distance run in a contact sport and distance run in a (theoretical) non-contact sport should be measured quite differently. Has any soccer player (other than place kickers) ever made it in the NFL? Has any NFL football player ever made it in soccer? The closest I can think of is Kyle Rote was a great football wide receiver, and his son was a pretty good soccer player.

posted by pullmyfinger at 08:00 PM on August 03, 2014

Ochocinco once desperately wanted to double up as a soccer player while he was still a starting NFL wideout. He has some skills and lots of enthusiasm, but from what I could tell, he was miles away from being able to roster up with a MLS team, and was too deep into his athletic prime to have the time needed to train his way up to major league pro soccer viability.

However, he might already have international level capability in the foul exaggerating and goal celebrating departments.

posted by beaverboard at 10:21 PM on August 03, 2014

For the World Cup, I think they used SportVU to generate player distance run info.

Yes, it was a STATS system. I was surprised to learn that it was based on camera tracking rather than some sort of chip or sensor.

posted by bender at 10:55 PM on August 03, 2014

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