The National Football League has been one of the leading sports in terms of using the available technology to improve the product on the field of play. Today, we are going to discuss a few ways that the NFL can continue being one of the forefront leagues in terms of accepting the technology and finding ways to implement it.
One way football has been dominating the use of technology is the “next gen stats” that they use to really help look at things at a better level, like Super Bowl stats and those in the playoffs. Now without further ado, we can dive into some ways the NFL can improve in technology use.
Expanded Instant Replay
I will continue to say this until I am blue in the face, but there is no reason why some instant replays should take a few minutes to complete, as it drastically slows the game down and ruins the momentum of how the game is going as a whole.
With dozens of camera angles and having replays check every scoring or turnover attempt throughout the game, there needs to be more of an emphasis on getting the call correct and quickly.
The viewing experience, if you are not in the stadium, gives us the ability to watch the replays from a bunch of different angles and are able to draw a conclusion of what the play is. Why is that not the case with the NFL replay system, as they are focused solely on being prepared to make the call and decide on things?
They have all the camera angles available to them and still have trouble deciphering the result of the play. Let’s expand instant replay, where we have a dedicated group of referees watching the game and determining what happens, almost expanding the booth review to help make quicker decisions.
Placement of the Football
One of the more antiquated things that I still cannot comprehend in football is the fact that you are depending on a group of referees to determine where the ball is placed at the end of plays. The referees are typically running behind the play, and that makes it a lot more difficult to have the correct placement than a stationary person.
One thing the National Football League can do is implement a tracking system inside of the football where they can keep track of where the football touches the turf instead is going to be dealing with where the player’s body parts hit the ground. It makes it a lot easier as you can also dedicate one person to the booth to watch and declare where the ball should be placed on the field.
This will be a great thing for the game as a whole, as the referees will be able to have one less thing off of their plate. They can focus on calling penalties and have an earpiece of where the spot of the football should be, similar to what Major League Baseball is going to be doing with their electronic strike zone.
This will make the game feel faster and more effective as a whole, as the spotting of the football sometimes seems to be one of the more annoying things.
Also, there is the fact that we would not need the chain gang to walk to the middle of the field to determine whether a play is a first down or not. There are a lot of advantages to having this on the field, and that will definitely be a great thing for the sport as a whole.
Conclusion
The NFL has done an excellent job of allowing technology to be a part of the game instead of being afraid of taking the next step in its evolution as a sport. What technological improvements would make you feel better as an NFL fan watching the games every week?
