I. What kinds of systems are illustrated in this case study? Where do they obtain their data? What do they do with the data? Describe some of the inputs and outputs of these systems. 3. How do the data about teams and players captured by the NFL help NFL football teams and the NFL itself make better decisions? Give examples of two decisions that were improved by the systems described in this case. 2. What business functions do these systems 4. How did using data help the NFL and its teams improve the way they run their business? support? Explain your answer. It takes just two seconds for data to be recejved ers, the data are shared with fans, broadcasters, and vices. for the NFL. From the NFL cloud comput- remote cloud computers run by Amazon Wb Ser- by the motion sensors, analyzed, and pushed out to Data Changes How NFL Teams Play the Game and INTERACTIVE SESSION: PEOPLE How Fans See It 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 experi- ence 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 broad- casts, 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 specializ- ing in tracking technology that includes the bar codes on groceries and other consumer goods and RFID technology. The Zebra Sports Solu- tion system records players' speed, direction, loca- tion 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 accelera- tion impacts 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 an RFID echip in their left and right shoulder pads that transmit data to 20 radio receivers strategically located in the lower and upper levels of stadjums to collect data about how each player moves, using metrics such as velocity, specd 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 offi- cial. 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. NEL teams. Once the data are stored by the NEI Microsoft gathers and displays the data to fans using NFL.com, the NFLS social media outlet and the NFL app on Windows 10 and the Xbox One The data are also transmitted to the giant display sereens 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 he better to press forward or to punt in a particular fourth-down situation. Data transmitted to broad. casters, to stadium screens, to the NFL website. and to the NextGen Stats feature of Microsoft's Xbox One NFL app help create a deeper fan expe- rience that gets fans more involved in the 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 visualiza- tions of the data to each team within 24 hours of game. the game via a custom-built web portal. The sys- tem 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. Zebra sees other potential uses for the data. For example, more analytics could identify when a player's performance is likely to flag late in the game and how to improve training to prevent such fatigue. Coaches could use that information to decide whether to pull out a certain receiver dur- ing the fourth quarter or to rely on that player less in a critical moment. Even now the data are giving NFL fans, teams, coaches, and players a deeper look into the game they love. Sources: Brian McDonough, "How the NFL's Data Operation Tracks Every Move on the Field," Informarion Management. December 7. 201 www.zebra.com, accessed March 15, 2017, Mark J. Burns, "Zebra Tech- nologies, NFL Revamp Partnersbip for Third Season," Sport Techie, Sep tember 6, 2016; and "Zebra Tracking Technology May Change How NE Fans See the Gume and Teams Play It, MarketWatch, September 15. 2015 54