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American Football is one of the world’s best-loved and most popular sports, with millions enjoying the game, from children playing in the youth leagues to the stars of the professional divisions. You can play, watch, or even work in football-related industries, including creating odds for bettors at the top football betting sites. American Football plays a vital role in U.S. culture, with millions attending games at major stadiums every season and plenty more following the results live on television.
The National Football League is the pinnacle of American Football, boasting the most famous teams, experienced coaches, highest-paid players, and the most passionate fans. The NFL is a festival of color, competition, and excitement with unpredictable games, fast-moving action, and big wins. Which is your favorite NFL team, and do you have high hopes for the season ahead? The campaign has already begun, and the divisions are taking shape.
Our football writers and sports fans on this page explain how you can keep pace with the NFL games, even when working or out of the house. How we consume football and follow our favorite teams is changing with technology, bringing us closer to the action. Football is a modern sport that relies on the latest tech to run, and that spills over to fans.
From the games to watching on the move, this article highlights how technology is changing football for all concerned.
Training
Whether training as a youth in school, an aspiring star in the College Football ranks, or a fully-fledged professional with a spot in the NFL, there’s no escaping technology’s influence on the sport. In the training field, tech plays an important role, helping coaches select their best-performing players while ensuring the squad works to its limits for fitness and concentration.
Tech working in training is obvious, from recording and tracking sprint times to monitoring concentration levels in the later stages of a game. At the youth level, a simple stopwatch and laptop can track a player’s progress in pre-season, showing improvements in fitness and proving the best time to add them to a game. Seeing an upward curve in training also encourages players at all levels to keep working hard.
Technology’s influence grows as you travel through the ranks towards the NFL. One of the most impressive elements of tech in football is in cognitive science. In modern football, there’s as much attention on brain training as building fitness. Thanks to technology, studies show teams can improve a player’s performance when tired and under pressure.
Concentration is key to success. Despite previous generations of football players believing concentration and focus are built into some humans, today, they work on getting an extra edge on their opponents by training and improving their engagement. Coaches can work with players to improve their game focus and decision-making when tired.
Playing
TV broadcasters have adopted much of the same tech used in training to give fans a more immersive viewing experience. As tech improves, it gets smaller, and players can now wear GPS, LPS, and RFID. These devices track the distance a player covers, their speed, areas of activity, and a heat map of their position.
All this state-of-the-art information adds an extra edge of excitement to football viewing, but it shows in black and white which players are performing and which aren’t. Coaches use this information from a live feed to decide their strongest team and justify making in-game changes.
When a game is over and the mood settles, players and coaches can watch the game back and give a tailored response to each position. Did they run enough yards to justify being picked again next week, or did they tire in the last 15 minutes? Performance is no longer a matter of opinion. The hard facts and stats are quickly available to analyze and help coaches converse honestly with their best players or misfiring stars.
Buying tickets
If you’re a football fan and fancy visiting the stadium to watch your team in action, you’ll be delighted to learn purchasing a ticket is easier now than ever before. Long gone are the days you had to visit the stadium or ticket office to purchase your paper ticket, which you then presented at the turnstile on matchday. We’ve also passed the stage of buying tickets online and having them delivered to your door by post.
Today, you can use your smartphone to visit an NFL club’s website or app and purchase entry to the next game. When you buy a ticket, a QR code goes to your email, and you present that at the gate to enter the stadium. It reduces the paper wasted but also speeds up the process of buying tickets.
You can now enter using only your smartphone, and that alone is a great example of how technology positively impacts football fans. Give it a try today; you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to enjoy a big game from the pitchside.
Watching the game
If you can’t make it to the stadium to cheer your team to victory in person, other options are available to those wishing to show support. You can watch the game live on television, either at home, with friends, or at a sports bar. Following the live TV action is the next best thing to being at the game. You will enjoy crystal-clear footage, expert commentary, in-game stats, unique camera angles, and more.
Watching on TV is great, but it keeps you tethered to home. What if you’re at work or on the move during the play? Just a few years ago, that meant you’d miss the action and watch a highlight show later in the evening. But that’s no longer true, thanks to smartphones and live-streaming. Download a football live-streaming app on your mobile and never miss a game.
The best smartphone coverage gives all the same great features of watching TV but with the added advantage of being mobile. Watch at work, on the train, or during a break. You’re always just a click away from the action.
