Management 1

All professional sports teams today collect detailed data on player and team performance, fan behavior, and sales, and increasingly use these data to drive decisions about every aspect of the business—marketing, ticketing, player evaluation, and TV and digital media deals. This includes the National Football League (NFL), which is increasingly turning to data to improve how its players and teams perform and how fans experience the game.

Since 2014 the NFL has been capturing player movement data on the field by putting nickel-sized radio frequency identification (RFID) tags beneath players’ shoulder pads to track every move they make. The information the sensors gather is used by NFL teams to improve their training and strategy, by commentators on live game broadcasts, and by fans attending games or using the NFL app on the Xbox One.

The NFL’s player tracking system is based on the Zebra Sports Solution developed by Zebra Technologies, a Chicago-based firm specializing in tracking technology that includes the bar codes on groceries and other consumer goods and radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. The Zebra Sports Solution system records players’ speed, direction, location on the field, how far they ran on a play, and how long they were sprinting, jogging, or walking. The system can also determine what formation a team was in and how players’ speed or acceleration affects their on-field performance. Want to know how hard Eli Manning is throwing passes or the force with which a ball arrives in the hands of receiver Odell Beckham? The system knows how to do all that.

NFL players have RFID chips in their left and right shoulder pads that transmit data to 20 radio receivers strategically located in the lower and upper levels of stadiums to collect data about how each player moves, using metrics such as velocity, speed in miles per hour, and distance traveled. From there the data are transmitted to an on-site server computer, where Zebra’s software matches an RFID tag to the correct player or official. The football also has a sensor transmitting location data. The data are generated in real-time as the game is being played. Each sensor transmits its location about 25 times per player.

It takes just two seconds for data to be received by the motion sensors, analyzed, and pushed out to remote cloud computers run by Amazon Web Services for the NFL. From the NFL cloud computers, the data are shared with fans, broadcasters, and NFL teams. The data captured by the NFL are displayed to fans using the NFL Next Gen Stats website, NFL social media channels, and the NFL app on Windows 10 and the Xbox One. The data are also transmitted to the giant display screens in the arena to show fans during the game.

The data have multiple uses. NFL teams use them to evaluate player and team performance and to analyze tactics, such as whether it might be better to press forward or to punt in a particular fourth-down situation. Data transmitted to broadcasters, to stadium screens, to Next Gen Stats, and to the Next Gen Stats feature of Microsoft’s Xbox One NFL app help create a deeper fan experience that gets fans more involved in the game.

Some of the statistics fans can now see on Next Gen Stats include Fastest Ball Carriers, Longest Tackles, Longest Plays, Passing Leaders, Rushing Leaders, and Receiving Leaders. Next Gen Stats also features charts for individual players and videos that explain the differences and similarities between players, teams, and games based on the data.

While the data may be entertaining for fans, they could prove strategic for the teams. Data markers for each play are recorded, including type of offense, type of defense, whether there was a huddle, all movement during the play, and the yard line where the ball was stopped. The NFL runs custom-created analytics to deliver visualizations of the data to each team within 24 hours of the game, via a custom-built web portal. The system displays charts and graphs as well as tabular data to let teams have more insight. Each NFL team may also hire its own data analyst to wring even more value from the data. The data are giving NFL fans, teams, coaches, and players a deeper look into the game they love.

Cars Becoming Big Brother on Wheels

Cars today have become sophisticated listening posts on wheels. They can track phone calls and texts, record what radio stations you listen to, monitor the speed at which you drive and your braking actions, and even tell when you are breaking the speed limit, often without your knowledge.

Tens of millions of drivers in the United States are currently being monitored, with that number rising every time a new vehicle is sold or leased. There are 78 million cars on the road with an embedded cyber connection that can be used for monitoring drivers. According to research firm Gartner Inc., 98 percent of new cars sold in the United States and Europe will be connected by 2021.

Since 2014, every new car in the United States comes with an event data recorder (EDR), which records and stores over a dozen data points, including vehicle speed, seat belt use, and braking activation. EDR data are available to any auto maker as well as to insurance companies, which use these stored EDR data to help establish responsibility for an accident or to detect fraud.

EDRs are mandated and regulated by the U.S. government, but other data-gathering software in today’s cars is not. Such software underlies numerous sensors, diagnostic systems, in-dash navigation systems, and built-in cellular connections, as well as driver-assistance systems to help drivers park, stay in their lane, avoid rear-ending another car, and steer for short time periods. All of this software keeps track of what drivers are doing. Newer cars may record driver eye movements, the weight of people in the front seats, and whether the driver’s hands are on the wheel. Smartphones, whether connected to the car or not, can also track your activities, including any texting while driving. Auto makers are able to mine all this information, as are app developers and companies such as Google or Spotify.

With the exception of medical information, the United States has few regulations governing what data companies can gather and how they can use the data. Companies generally are not required to conceal names or other personal details. In most cases the driver must consent to allowing his or her personal information to be tracked or monitored. Many people unwittingly provide this consent when they check off a box on one of the lengthy service agreement forms required to register a car’s in-dash system or navigation app.

Collecting such large amounts of personal data generated by drivers has raised concerns about whether automakers and others are doing enough to protect people’s privacy. Drivers may welcome the use of information to relay helpful diagnostic information or updates on nearby traffic jams. But they do not necessarily endorse other uses, and automakers have refrained from commenting on future data collection plans and policies.

Automakers argue that the data are valuable for improving vehicle performance and vehicle safety and soon will be able to reduce traffic accidents and fatalities. Amassing detailed data about human driving behavior is also essential for the development of self-driving cars. But privacy experts believe the practice is dangerous. With enough data about driver behavior, individual profiles as unique as fingerprints could be developed. Trips to businesses reveal buying habits and relationships that could be valuable to corporations, government agencies, or law enforcement. For example, frequent visits to a liquor store or mental health clinic could reveal information about someone’s drinking habits or health problems. People obviously would not want such confidential data shared with others.