Summary of Article
As I was browsing around I found an article that interested me (found here). I followed the World Cup as it went on and found an article detailing how data was used in the World Cup. It turns out that in the ball there is a sensor that along with an array of 12 cameras, mounted underneath the roof of the stadium, that track everything from whether or not a player was offsides to measuring dribbling speeds, to time of possession of the ball and much more. This could be very helpful when it comes time to evaluate the players and help them improve. One of the ways the World Cup technology was used in the games was to detect players that went offside. The series of events that take place when a player is offside is as follows: the sensor in the ball and cameras detect the offside player and send a clip of a video from the cameras to the video operation room, the people in that room will deem if it is a valid call and if so notify the refs, who will then confirm it and proceed to make the call, and while all of this is happening the computer is making an animation of what happened to show to the fans should the call go through and if it was an actual offside incident.
My Take
This was all extremely intriguing to me, because of the simple fact that we are now not only relying on human eyes to make calls but actual facts that can be backed up with evidence and replayed, again and again, to show that this was the correct call. This is good because it will remove the ambiguity from sports calls and ensure that nobody has the excuse anymore of “the referees’ calls were biased”. But on a more serious note, it does help sports and the data industry as it is just the latest thing that data is being used to clarify and set in fact rather than opinion.
Downsides
This isn’t perfect either however as with everything there are still downsides. One main downside that the article brought up was the fact that we might not be able to see “clutch plays” anymore. The reason for this is that the computer will tell the coach that the odds of that shot going in, that goal making it, or that touchdown happening are low and will suggest something else. So, coaches will more than likely take the safer option especially if they have something to back it up when their bosses ask what happened that night if they lost, this will result in a lower number of memorable plays and a lower number of times that there is that sense of excitement in sports going forward. What do you think – is the tradeoff worth the benefit with regard to data in sports?
Conclusion
All in all, the data used in the World Cup is fascinating. Whether or not you agree with its introduction into sports you cannot help but marvel at what it can do and how much it can help reduce ambiguity in calls as well as how many helpful statistics it can provide when it comes time to improve for the players. The one major downside is that it could take away from the iconic moments in sports as coaches will more than likely do the safer thing especially if it is based on data so they can have a rationale to explain why It didn’t go right If something happens.