Tracking chips in footballs promise data trove

Football is all about getting the ball over the goal line. Now teams will know more than ever about how the ball got there.

Starting Thursday night, when the New England Patriots played the Kansas City Chiefs to open the season, every game ball will have a tracking chip inside. Among other things, this will help determine how fast and how high quarterbacks throw and kickers kick. About a third of the NFL teams have also equipped their facilities so they can track balls in practices, not just in games.

The technology comes as leagues across the sports landscape are collecting more and more data so coaches can better understand their players and television broadcasters can better illustrate the intricacies of the game.

The NFL has been no exception. For the past two years, each player has had a chip inserted in his shoulder pads so radio transmitters in stadiums can track his every move on the field. Teams have used that data to determine how fast and how far players run, and to better understand offensive and defensive patterns.

In some cases, tracking the footballs will automate what is now done manually, like recording the number of times a quarterback throws the ball. But it is also an iteration in the growing use of tracking data in the NFL.

“One of the things we’ve learned with the player data over time is there are insights that as a coach you knew,” said Jill Stelfox, general manager of the location solutions group at Zebra Technologies, the company that produces the tracking chips and the radio equipment that captures the data from the chips. “You knew a player was quick off the line. But now you know what quick off the line actually is, and you can train your players to match that speed. We’re going to learn more than we expected. What’s a fast handoff? What’s a good fake?”

The introduction of tracking chips in game balls is only the latest use of technology aimed at improving the game while giving fans new insights.

Years ago, NFL coaches started sending plays to radio earpieces in the helmets worn by quarterbacks and linebackers. Coaches and players now use tablet computers to review plays during games instead of the black-and-white photographs that used to be printed on the sideline. The increasing number of high-speed cameras in stadiums has allowed teams to see game video from more angles.

Broadcasters, too, have taken advantage of the new technology, including the chips, which can be used to show a player’s athletic prowess, but also, potentially in the future, to determine first downs and whether players are in bounds.

This year, the league has teamed with Intel, which has installed 38 cameras in 11 stadiums to replay 360-degree scenes from the sideline that broadcast television cameras cannot. The technology, called freeD, for free dimensional video, creates a silhouette of the player and projects video on top of it to show how, say, Tom Brady viewed oncoming rushers as he threw a pass. CBS, ESPN and Fox will use the video during their broadcasts this season.

“When you watch an NFL game, they’re showing you, say, eight broadcast cameras around the field, and a producer selects the feed,” said James Carwana, general manager of Intel Sports Group. This technology “gives fans literally the chance to walk on the field, where there are no cameras.”

Almost all technology used by the NFL is introduced incrementally, and the chips in the game balls are no different. The league began testing the chips two years ago, starting with the Pro Bowl. Last year, the chips were used in Thursday night games as well as in the preseason. This allowed Zebra, the NFL and Wilson, which makes the game balls, to iron out technical kinks.

Zebra first had to reduce the weight of the chip, which is about the size of a nickel. The first chips, which weighed as much as 12 grams, caused the balls to wobble when thrown. The chips were eventually cut to less than 4 grams (a game ball weighs about 400 grams).

Wilson also had to determine where to place the chip. Originally, engineers believed it would be best in the point of the ball. But that part of the ball is often dented when it hits a receiver’s chest. Suspending the chip in the middle of the ball proved impractical. The most secure location turned out to be beneath the panel of the ball where the NFL shield is stamped. The chip sits in a thin sheath that is attached to the rubber bladder inside the ball.

“We’re trying to maintain the center of gravity of the football and the mass properties of the ball, meaning maintaining steady flight of the ball,” said Bob Thurman, who worked on the research team at Wilson. “We don’t want wobbly passes, and if a 400-pound lineman falls on the ball, it has to maintain its integrity.”

Another challenge was the battery in the chip. Zebra eventually developed technology that allows the battery to be activated when the game balls leave the locker room and are taken to the field. This should allow the battery to last for an entire season. And with a full season’s worth of data, the league and Zebra may find new ways to use it.

“It’s a work in progress with what they’ll see,” Stelfox said.

“We’re going to learn more than we expected.” Jill Stelfox, Zebra Technologies