As the NFL moves toward using drones to enhance the images generated by football games, an old-school technology (relatively speaking) could be taking fans into the huddle -- and elsewhere on the gridiron.
Nearly a quarter century after the World League of American Football used a camera tucked into the padding of a helmet to display in-game images, the NFL could eventually be using the SchuttVision system, with a camera between the facemask screws at the hairline of the helmet, during games.
“This is something that networks want in their broadcasts,” product inventor JR Liverman told Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “I don’t have a crystal ball in knowing when that will happen. I absolutely believe that this will be integrated into the broadcasts on all levels of football over the next years.”
The Arena Football League began using the SchuttVision helmet this season, and teams at lower levels of the sport previously implemented helmet cameras for practice sessions. The Steelers have become the first NFL team to adopt SchuttVision for training purposes, and others surely will follow suit. (The Bears added their own camera to the side of a quarterback’s helmet last year.)
It seems to be only a matter of time before the cameras blanketing the field will be complemented by cameras in the field, with that footage eventually becoming the source of evidence to overturn, or to uphold, key calls.