NFL Adopts Sony's 'Virtual Measurements' for Football's First Downs (hawkeyeinnovations.com)
- Reference: 0176946903
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/04/06/1932242/nfl-adopts-sonys-virtual-measurements-for-footballs-first-downs
- Source link: https://www.hawkeyeinnovations.com/news/4241661/sonys-hawkeye-innovations-selected-by-the-nfl-to-revolutionize-line-to-gain-measurements
> America's National Football League announced that beginning with the 2025 season, [2]Sony's Hawk-Eye virtual measurement technology will assess and identify first downs after a ball spot .
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> Sony's Hawk-Eye virtual measurement technology, which consists of six 8K cameras for optical tracking of the position of the ball, is operated from the NFL's "Art McNally GameDay Central Officiating Center" in New York and is integrated with the League's existing replay system. It will serve as an efficient alternative to the process of having a [3]three-person chain crew walk chains onto the field and manually measure whether 10 yards have been met after the official has spotted the ball.
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> However, the chain crew will remain on the field in a secondary capacity.
The NFL's executive VP of football operations says their move brings "world-class on field officiating with state-of-the-art technology to advance football excellence." (The NFL's announcement notes the whole process takes about 30 seconds, "saving up to 40 seconds from a measurement with the chains.")
The move comes a full seven years after Apple introduced its [4]iPhone Measure app ...
[1] https://slashdot.org/~theodp
[2] https://www.hawkeyeinnovations.com/news/4241661/sonys-hawkeye-innovations-selected-by-the-nfl-to-revolutionize-line-to-gain-measurements
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_crew
[4] https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/06/apple-unveils-arkit-2/
Let's just go full Cyberball? (Score:5, Funny)
Robot refs, robot players, robot cheerleaders. When it comes to football, the less human element, the better. In fact, I'll remove myself and just not watch.
Re: (Score:2)
Football was a misnomer anyway for "American Football"
Pointless (Score:2)
All this does is measure the position of the ball once the referee has placed it. The issue is how they determine where the ball was when play stopped, forward motion ended, etc. This will do nothing to reduce the controversies. This is all for show.
Re: (Score:2)
Television broadcasts have been accurately overlaying the first down line on the screen for a couple decades. They could've done this long ago.
iPhone measure??? (Score:2)
> The move comes a full seven years after Apple introduced its iPhone Measure app...
???
*really*?
I'd rather hope that, unlike iPhone measure, this new contraption is constrained by the laws of physics!
The bizarreness of some of the measurements it tossed out could be amusing, but you just can't have a four foot section of a three foot beam . . .
Cool (Score:2)
This sounds cool but who makes it?
Rfid chip? (Score:2)
Aren't we headed towards a chip of some sort in the ball and a grid of receptors on the ground?
Providing accuracy down to an inch, even in a pileup ?
So I'm not really a sports guy (Score:2)
I mean obviously a nerd I'm here aren't I? But doesn't this completely ruin one of the main points of fun around sports? IE bad ref calls?
Re: (Score:2)
The reason there is instant replay in college football is because of an egregiously clear foul which was not called during a Penn State game. Then coach Joe Paterno lobbied for replay because of it. [1]For reference [triblive.com].
[1] https://archive.triblive.com/news/big-ten-unveils-instant-replay-experiment/
Old news? (Score:2)
Is this the same Hawk-Eye that umpires have been using to help decide on LBW in cricket for over twenty years?
Hopefully pushes MLB to implement roboump (Score:2)
The accuracy of the umpires calling balls and strikes is atrocious.
The only tolerated human error should be by the players.
Two Consequences Not Addressed in TFA (Score:3)
If the system can call first downs, it can surely call touchdowns. Also, it would seem to eliminate challenges to either.
They only mention the system being used to replace a measurement ("walking chains onto the field"), but if it can do that, it should be able to do it all.
can't tell when the player is down or when the bal (Score:2)
can't tell when the player is down or when the ball is hidden