Walk into any National Football League stadium on game day and the scene is similar in many ways. There are cheerleaders, music, a very large scoreboard, vendors hawking food and drink in the aisles, and two helmet-clad teams doing battle on the field.

Yet, what many people may not realize is that the game taking place in front of them has actually become a massive data-generating machine, where everything from the players and referees to the first-down markers, end-zone pylons and even the ball itself have embedded chips generating reams of real-time data from start to finish. Welcome to the sports enterprise at the edge.

“We can track minute types of information, like players moving around a football field, and translate it into usable information,” said John Pollard (pictured), vice president of sports business development at Zebra Technologies Corp. “We’ve kind of hit that tipping point where there’s general acceptance and a lot of excitement about the data.”

Pollard spoke with Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, at SiliconANGLE’s studio in Palo Alto, California, as part of theCUBE’s Western Digital “Data Makes Possible” CUBE Conversation series. They discussed the technology behind Zebra’s data generating system and how the information is being used by teams, fans and broadcasters. (* Disclosure below.)

Tracking every player on every play

Every NFL stadium today has permanently installed beacons that are fed information from radio frequency identification chips installed in players’ uniforms and other items on the field. Player data is collected and provided to teams who then evaluate metrics, such as speed and positioning, for every play in every game.

“We can also see interesting information like separation from a wide receiver and defensive back, which is critical when you’re evaluating players’ capabilities,” Pollard said.

In addition to the information provided to teams, the data is gradually being fed to football fans and broadcasters through the NFL’s Next Gen Stats website. Being able to access contextual data within seconds after the completion of a play can add to the football fan’s in-game experience and provide valuable information for the league’s television partners.

“For the first two years it was more of a research and testing type of process,” Pollard said. “Now we’re seeing more [data] integrated into the broadcasts themselves.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s Western Digital “Data Makes Possible” CUBE Conversation series. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Western Digital Corp. Neither Western Digital nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE