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Inside Football – NFL to Collect Ball Data via RFID Chips

Jeff Reinke
10/31/2019 | 5 min read
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Inside Football – NFL to Collect Ball Data via RFID Chips

Although increasingly common to manufacturing, big data is not a term exclusively associated with productivity rates, KPIs, and predictive maintenance. Case in point – while performance data has always been an essential part of the National Football League, a partnership with Zebra Technologies is taking player stats to the next level.

Now, thanks to embedded sensor and wireless transmission technology, coin-sized RFID chips placed inside footballs will be able to track ball velocity, rotation, location, and speed – of both the ball and the player carrying it. The chips will be placed in balls for every game this year.

The NFL, Zebra, and ball manufacturer Wilson started working together in 2015, as a fundamental aspect of the Next Gen Stats initiative was making sure that adding the chip didn’t change the ball.

This objective meant reducing the weight of Zebra’s chip from 12 to less than four grams. And, after investigating a couple of locations, the chip was attached to the ball’s bladder, opposite the air valve opening.

Next, about 20 RFID receptors were placed on the top of each stadium, essentially turning it into a wireless data network. Zebra estimates that it tracks more than 670 million bytes of data each game.

Previously, Zebra has placed its chips on players’ shoulder pads, on referees, and on first-down markers, with end zone pylons and first down measuring sticks as future targets. These actions would help in spotting the ball and removing any uncertainty about field position or whether a play was in or out of bounds.

The only problem is that right now the chips are only accurate to within six inches.

Zebra’s deal with the NFL runs through the 2018 NFL season, with the company looking for a similar partnership with the NCAA.

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