Zebra extends NFL partnership for player tracking via RFID
Zebra said it has extended a partnership with the National Football League for its on-field player tracking technology.
The NFL partnership makes Zebra the official on-field player-tracking provider through 2021. Zebra has deployed a system that attaches RFID tags to player equipment and the football to generate real-time location data for next-gen statistics.
Zebra said its MotionWorks Sports tracking system captures player speed, distance traveled, proximity as well as acceleration and deceleration. The NFL takes that data for player stats in-stadium and during broadcasts and also uses it for practice plans, play design, and workload decisions.
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Key details of the NFL agreement:
- Zebra will tag 2,880 players and officials during the pre-season with 1,700 players tagged in the regular season.
- There will be 20,000 instrumented footballs used during the 2019-2020 NFL season.
- All six international NFL games will use Zebra technology for next-gen stats.
- A third of the league is using Zebra's practice tracking system.
For the six months ended June 29, Zebra reported net income of $239 million, or $4.37 a share, on revenue of $2.16 billion, up from $1.99 billion for the same period a year ago. Second-quarter sales for Zebra were up 8.4%.
For Zebra, the NFL partnership is an effort to highlight the company's tracking platform for other industries.