Three Sports Technology Trends Emerged In 2015 That Will Change Sport Forever

2015 has been a breakthrough year for sport all around the world in terms of technological progression. Tracking technology can now follow an athlete right down to the millimetre, virtual reality is changing the game at the athlete, fan and organization level and injury prevention technology is becoming increasingly vital to professional success, and is why scientists are now finding ways to manage and prevent certain injuries that would normally just be ‘part of the game’.

With 2015 coming to a close we have identified the three sports technology trends that stood out this year, and look ahead to 2016.

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Player Tracking Technology
While tracking technology has been around the market for quite some time now, 2015 has seen it rise to the forefront of how teams around the world create their success. This year, the MLB brought in analytics firm, Statcast to provide fans with a world first in data tracking, making all stats publicly available and made an ‘All-Statcast Team’ at the end of the season. The NFL also fully integrated Zebra Technologies’ player tracking RFID chips that were inserted into every shoulder pad in the league to create next generation stats.

Other sports such as rugby, soccer and football have all been making solid investments in companies like Catapult and Statsports to analyze workloads, providing coaches with ideal plans that will bring out the best interest for both the team, and the individuals themselves.

Virtual Reality
Virtual reality technology is on the cusp of truly changing sport forever. This year saw many teams use VR in a multitude of ways. Top examples include, the Sacramento Kings utilizing Oculus’ headset to sell and promote their new venue to investors and fans, creating a life-like simulation of anywhere in the building. Similarly, the Washington Capitals teamed up with STRIVR to provide an experience of skating on the ice with the athletes that fans could consume.

However, marketing is not the only way that virtual reality is making its impact. Tests were carried out this year to see whether the technology could be useful in a quarterback’s training. The idea hopes to eliminate the complexities of the playbook, let QB’s practice the exact plays through virtual reality goggles and cut down on physical exertion while not cutting down on mental practice. Many NFL teams adopted STRIVR’s VR tech this season to try and give their QB’s a training edge. Look for other sports and teams to heavily adopt VR in 2016.

Injury Prevention Technology
With injuries becoming increasingly important to a team and it’s success, injury prevention technology is moving forward at a rapid pace. NBA champions, the Golden State Warriors, publically came out and said that if it weren’t for the injury prevention systems they had utilized throughout their 2014-15 season, they may not have made it where they did.

Similar to player tracking, companies like Kitman Labs, CoachMePlus and Kinduct Technologies, to name a few, have all made it their business to gravitate towards preventing injuries for elite athletes. Franchises are paying more and more money annually for athletes of great talent, and to lose them to injury is a major lost investment. So any potential to prevent or avoid a hamstring pull can mean millions of dollars of productivity saved for a team.

The intent, of these kinds of companies, however, has not always been for the high-profile athlete or franchise. Particularly in football, concussion has been one of the biggest talking points this year in the injury prevention realm, with new studies finding the large extent of damage that can be done on the brain after repeat concussions. Ways to track brain health and status are now being created, not only for professional athletes, but for everyone who participates in sport at some level and is an enormous talking point for the NFL in particular.

We fully anticipate these three trends to continue to mature in 2016 and recommend keeping an eye on the growing amount of sports focused accelerators as a new trend to watch for in the New Year. 

Technology has changed the sports business: How do you continue to drive loyalty and passion?

Sports clubs and organisations command loyalty and drive passion like no other industry. They create communities, divide families and generate debate thousands of miles away from the pitch with fans from all over the world.

There are few moments in a sports fan’s life that are as euphoric as seeing their favourite team or hero win big – just ask Leicester City football fans, who caused an earthquake measuring 0.3 on the Richter scale in 2016 when celebrating a crucial last-minute winner.

Digital technology offers the potential for sports organisations to enhance their engagement with both new and existing fans, and to monetise growing international audiences. However, technology also brings the threat of disruption. Many traditional revenue streams are under threat as new rights and sponsorship models emerge that compel sports organisations to find alternative sources of income. In the battle for consumer attention, organisations risk losing mindshare to rivals.

As the sports industry goes through a period of unprecedented change, the ability to recognise this market disruption and respond effectively is more critical than ever.

In this paper we analyse and discuss what it takes for sports businesses to succeed, defend and grow their fanbases and, in parallel, build sustainable business models that ensure ongoing profitability.

Based on research, points-of-view from subject matter experts, and interviews with stakeholders in leading clubs, IBM has identified five areas of focus for sports organisations: understand market disruption, learn from media and entertainment businesses, deliver digital fan experiences, adopt the right fan engagement technologies, and secure enterprise capabilities.

4 Sports That Have Benefitted from Technology
Many sports have become more playable or popular because of advancements in technology. This article will explore its effect on four popular sports.   Tennis Most tennis racquets are no longer made from wood but graphite or a graphite composite incorporating Kevlar. Graphite is used because it is strong relative to its light weight. It...
Many sports have become more playable or popular because of advancements in technology. This article will explore its effect on four popular sports.

Tennis
Most tennis racquets are no longer made from wood but graphite or a graphite composite incorporating Kevlar. Graphite is used because it is strong relative to its light weight. It provides the tennis player with power, control, and feel for the ball. Kevlar is a strong heat-resistant fibre that is apparently capable of stopping bullets because of its molecular structure. Some of the serves can resemble them. I was thinking of John Isner, who holds the record for the fastest serve of 157.2 mph (253 km/h). It was his second serve, too, which traditionally is slower to increase the chance of hitting it in. This gigantic serve took place during Isner’s 2007 quarter-final against Legg Mason in the Tennis Classic in Washington.

Hawk-Eye is a computerised system that was introduced which will track the trajectory of a ball. It is an aid for umpires and lines people to see if a ball was out or just inside the lines. It uses at least six computer-linked tv cameras that are positioned around the court and works in real-time.  It is used in other sports, too, such as cricket, rugby union, and association football.

Football
Linked to the above technology, Video assist referee (VAR) was introduced in football to help referees, reduce disputes, and increase fairness in the game. It determines whether the ball has crossed the goal keeper’s line, and therefore whether a goal should be awarded to the other team.

Vanishing Foam Marker spray now exists for referees. It can be used to temporarily mark positions on a football pitch. It indicates to a player from which position a ball should be struck after play has been interrupted because of a foul. It is useful in that it disappears within a minute and does not remain on the pitch for longer than necessary. Otherwise, what opposing team could resist taking a ball from a position closer to the goal than they should? The spray resembles white paint, or shaving foam watered down and leaves no trace of residue behind after it has disappeared. It really has been a magical invention for football.

Snooker
The earliest snooker cues were known as maces. They had derived from croquet mallets and the player would have to manoeuvre it over their right shoulder to strike the ball by adopting something of a sweeping action. Now, of course, the wooden cues are long and straight and have a very fine tip. The grain of their ash visually guides the snooker player’s shot. Maple is used for those this distracts. It was in 1897 that chalk was invented by billiard professional William A. Spinks along with chemist William Hoskins. It was made by silica and corundum or aluminium oxide (aloxite) being crushed into a powder. It allowed the player to better grip the cue ball during shots. Its aim was to prevent miscues.

Colour television can be said to have popularized the game of snooker to the masses. In Britain, the late 1960s first saw the introduction of snooker to TV. As a result of snooker using a variety of colours in its game, David Attenborough, then head of BBC2, decided that the game was the perfect way to showcase colour technology on TV. If it had remained in black and white, viewers would have needed to have remembered where the balls had moved from.

As with the two sports above, Hawk-Eye technology now assists referees in snooker by generating a video replay (VR) of a shot. This allows the referee to replace the cue ball (white ball) on the exact same spot as it was prior to the shot being played before the miss was declared and the cue ball had to be replaced.

F1 (Formula One) Motor Sport
It is a fact that speeds are falling in F1, and safety is increasing. The only speed that really matters is, after all, being faster than an opponent, and the thrills of taking a corner faster than a conventional car can.

The greatest safety advancement in F1 is the halo, which was introduced to the sport in 2018. It is a protective piece of equipment fitted above the driver’s head. Its three-pronged bar structure prevents track debris and wheels from another car entering the cockpit.

In conclusion, it can be ascertained that most sports have benefitted in some way from advancements in technology, and some from the same technologies, such as Hawk-Eye. In addition, scoring and the working out of statistics has become more computerized over time, allowing for all sorts of interesting facts to be quickly relayed between commentator and spectator.