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How the iPad changed the NFL
The NFL season is sneaking up on American football fans faster than we know it, with all training camps starting up within the next two weeks. There's one thing that will be new to many of the NFL teams this year: iPads. NFL.com's Jeff Darlington provided an in-detail look last Friday at how the iPad and an innovative app are changing the way that football players and coaches sift through the mountains of statistics, game videos, and play diagrams that make up team playbooks. We've discussed a typical NFL playbook solution -- iPads and an app called Digital Playbook -- before, but Darlington's post really points out how many teams have either started replacing paper playbooks and videotapes/DVDs with iPads or are about to. A quick survey of the 32 NFL teams shows that fully half of them will be using the iPad in one way or another for the 2012 season. That's not counting the many teams that are letting players use personal iPads for video review purposes. Many teams are using solutions from Digital Playbooks or Global Aptitude to keep the playbooks secure, although players (like Broncos linebacker D.J. Williams) might do something dumb or spiteful and tweet a screenshot from the playbook. Needless to say, iPads have found a place in NFL team locker rooms and on team airplanes, and we're likely to hear a lot more about innovative uses for Apple's tablet in sports as the season progresses. [via CNET]
NFL renews TV deals with CBS, Fox, NBC for nine more years, money reportedly involved
Yeah, the NFL's really great and everything, but you know what would make it even greater? More. Money. Fortunately for Roger Goodell & Co., that's exactly what the league is due to receive, thanks to a slate of TV deals signed last week. The agreements, set to go into effect at the end of the 2013 season, effectively renew the NFL's current agreements with CBS, Fox and NBC, extending the league's TV contracts for a "record-setting" nine extra years. Not surprisingly, the deals will also funnel some extra pocket change through the NFL's coffers -- which will of course be coming from you, if you're subscribing to cable or satellite TV. Currently, the three networks pay a combined $1.94 billion in annual rights fees, but according to the LA Times, the league will now receive an average of $3.1 billion per year, as stipulated under its renewed agreements. In a statement, Commissioner Goodell said the deals underscore his league's "unique commitment to broadcast television," with CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves adding that his network will benefit from the NFL's "terrific, exciting programming," and from the consistently high ratings that "no other franchise delivers." The agreements, which come just a few months after the NFL inked a comparatively lucrative deal with ESPN, will also allow for the league to shift games between CBS and Fox, in order to bring "regional games to wider audiences." Each network, moreover, will air three Super Bowls over the course of the nine-year contract, continuing the rotation currently in place. Tebow past the break for the full PR.
This Madden curse might actually be a real thing: Peyton Hillis is injured
Peyton Hillis should have known better. During the haze of jubilation when he was voted to the cover of Madden 12, the rational voice in the back of his mind should have warned him. The Curse. Hillis has missed the Cleveland Browns' past two games, and he is expected to sit out Sunday's game at Houston with a hamstring injury that seems so stubborn that it's almost supernatural.The higher the climb, the harder the fall -- on your hamstring, Hillis. Enjoy your cover art. Muhahahaha.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers to use iPads as playbooks, not PlayBooks
With the NFL season just a few days away, players and coaches have been busy lifting weights, doing interviews and counting their money. Sometimes, they even get the chance to study their playbooks -- or, in the case of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, their iPads. This year, the franchise has distributed a fresh batch of iPad 2's to all of its 90 players, as part of a new initiative from coach Raheem Morris. With the tablets, the Bucs can spend their free time reviewing their downloaded plays, while analyzing video footage from practices, games and opposing teams. In related tech news, the Detroit Lions just discovered fire.
NFL 'currently talking' with Verizon to distribute programming on tablets
Ah, so now we understand Verizon's intentions to hastily roll out LTE service to NFL cities. The NFL, which has sided with Sprint over the years when it comes to cellular distribution of content, is apparently in even deeper talks with newfound partner Big Red in order to get its prized content into even more hands. As the idea of watching NFL games on-the-go because more and more sensible, the league is apparently mulling the decision to distribute games (and potentially more) on the next big thing. You know, tablets. Brian Rolapp, the NFL's senior vice president of media strategy, recently said the following: "The NFL will be on a tablet. It's a question of what shape or form. We are currently talking to Verizon about it." VZW declined to comment on the rumblings, but it's really not a shocker -- the carrier's doing everything it can to get a live LTE network here in the States, and inking a deal with America's most popular sporting league would obviously bring in boatloads of revenue. The real question is this: what tablet is the NFL eying, and if it's not the Samsung Galaxy Tab, what's Verizon's second tablet going to be? Inquiring minds would love to know.
NFL mulling microchips in footballs for those life-or-death goal line rulings
The NFL is serious business. So serious, in fact, that the idea of refs getting decisions wrong sends chills up and down Roger Goodell's spine. Yeah, we all know they do it habitually, but the League seems to be considering improving accuracy just a little bit with the help of some tech. Cairos Technologies, a German outfit that's been trying to sell its goal line technology to football (as in soccer) bigwigs for a while, has told Reuters that it's in discussions with the NFL about bringing its magnetic field hocus pocus to the gridiron. The idea would be for the ref to be alerted, via a message to his watch, any time the ball does something notable like crossing the goal line or first down marker. It should be a great aid for making difficult calls like whether a touchdown has happened at the bottom of a scrum, and might even help cut down on the number of frightfully dull replay challenges. Win-win, no? [Original image courtesy of NFL.com]
