Could Soccer be Getting Smarter?

When searching online for articles about advancing technologies within the sports industry, I noticed that a variety of different sports organizations are focused on one thing: how to enhance the fan experience.  Home movie systems and technologies such as smart phones, tablets and the Internet have made sporting events much more accessible and affordable to people and has also become major competition for sports organizations.

Through these technologies, fans are able to look up game scores immediately, watch games without the hassle of getting to an arena, and also replay or record games.  For the average sports fan, there is really no need for attending an actual game because they can watch sports in the comfort of their own home without having to deal with the hassle and expenses of attending professional sports events.  

Avid sports fan however might not feel satisfied only watching games at their houses, so sports organizations realize that avid fans will, for the most part, remain dedicated attendees, but what sports organizations want is to turn more average sports fans into avid sports fans.  Teams believe that enhancing the fan experience is one way to make this possible since you cannot get the same experience at home. 

Major League Soccer has teamed up with Adidas and in 2013 plans to create the first “Smart League” and “Smart Game”. The league will integrate the Adidas Micoach Elite System, which is a data tracking technology to provide the trainers and athlete with real-time performance analysis.  The data chip will attach to the back of the player in between their shoulder blades. Series of electrodes and sensors woven into the fabric of the base layer to wirelessly transfer more than 200 data per second of each player to the central server or computer (Adidas article) and can be monitored by coaches in real-time via an iPad.  By incorporating this into the game, MLS hopes that this technology will prevent risk of injury and also help players reach their optimum performance level.  The league also hopes that incorporating such technologies will improve the overall performance of play and make fans part of the game as well.

I am interested to see how this “Smart League” will have an impact on the sports industry.  If this data device is a success it has the ability to completely change the sports industry.  With a sport like soccer it sort of makes sense to incorporate such a technology because it benefits the health of athletes.  But I wonder in the future what type of technologies might also arise and if they could alter the actual game.

Article Reference: http://www.tuvie.com/adidas-micoach-elite-system-to-make-mls-the-worlds-first-smart-league-in-2013/