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Information Technology Influences on NFL, NASCAR and Other Sports

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Information Technology Influences on NFL, NASCAR and Other Sports

Information technology has influenced sports in many ways. Not only has it influenced sports in North America but also sports across the world. “In 1988, Stan Honey, Jerry Gepner, and Bill Squadron—three former executives at News Corp. and Fox Sports—founded Sportvision (http://www.sportvision.com). They used their extensive technology, sports production, and broadcast experience to create an innovative company that focuses on developing technology-based enhancements for the Internet, sports television, and new media platforms” (Shapiro). Sportvision has impacted sports like football, baseball, basketball, auto racing, horse racing, hockey, and a wide variety of …show more content…

The 1st & Ten Line is a yellow line that is superimposed on the field so that viewers at home can see just how far the offensive team has to go to reach a first down. This is helpful in that it allows first time viewers to get a better grasp on the game and the overall offensive objective, which is to gain first downs until the team either kicks a field goal or scores a touchdown. The following is a picture of the 1st & Ten Line:

Figure 1: The yellow line

With the same technology used for the 1st & Ten Line the telestrator enables broadcasters to draw lines and arrows on the screen so that audiences at home can understand exactly what the announcer is trying to convey.

Figure 2: The telestrator

Perhaps the most innovative technology has come in the world of auto racing, specifically NASCAR. Sportvision has created many new technological advances that make watching NASCAR more enjoyable and fan friendly. “RACEf/x is a car-tracking system that collects car performance data from every Winston Cup car five times per second, providing speed, position, time behind leader, brake indicator and throttle percentage information to NASCAR fans” (Pierce). Before, fans just sat on the couch and watched a bunch of cars go around in circles, but now because of technology fans can be updated on virtually up to the minute statistics of the

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