The NFL has allowed tablets on sidelines in recent years, but the league has limited the use of the technology to still frames. As of next week, the NFL could decide to allow those pictures to be enhanced by motion.
Via Daniel Kaplan of SportsBusiness Journal, owners will vote on the change at next week’s quarterly meeting in Charlotte.
“Longstanding policy prohibited any use of computers on the sidelines,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told Kaplan. “Commissioner Goodell has embraced technology and encouraged its use to improve the game. . . . Football personnel have debated the use of technology on the sidelines. Some people did not want technology to infringe the human element while others wanted to see if it could help the coaches and players.”
The question becomes whether the advantage will be unfair. The easy answer is that it will be unfair to those who don’t know how to take full advantage of it.
Teams that can digest, process, and react to the video footage in real time will be rewarded by spotting glitches and tendencies during a game. Self-scouting in real time also will be part of the challenge, with each team having employees reviewing footage to look for problems that need to be corrected before the other team exploits them.
Regardless, the technology is available and it’s effective and there’s no reason to not use it. It would be a surprise if it’s not used to the fullest, sooner than later.