The Evolution of Football Statistics for Game-Day Presentations

In football, statistics track everything from the obvious, such as score and yardage, to the very detailed information, such as longest play and fastest sack. If you can imagine the early days of football, the score might be the only thing shown during a game. Hence the name scoreboard.

The scoreboard has evolved with the popularity of the sport and expanded to show more and more information. The basics – time remaining and quarter information – were added with fixed digit technology. Yardage gained per team, sometimes even broken out by rushing and passing, were added as well.

When technology advanced to the LED video display, the amount of statistics able to be provided compounded exponentially. With the rise of fantasy football, individual player statistics became increasingly important to share in the stadium as the NFL has strongly urged teams to make them available during games.

How stats are shown has evolved as well. Aggregate statistics such as a drive chart are shown using graphics to ‘build’ the drive play by play sharing yardage per play as the drive is revealed.

As teams look to grow the presentation of their in-game stats and improve the fan experience, new information is working its way onto the video displays known as NFL Next Gen Stats. These stats include the more detailed information, a few examples being:

• QB time to throw
• QB air yards per pass
• Speed leaders
• Time to Sack
• Longest plays
• Passing grid

The endless possibilities provided by LED video technology, combined with Daktronics largest statistical library in the sports industry and unmatched integration with the NFL, is placing game-day enhancements at the fingertips of football teams and venues. If teams can dream up creative ways to present never-been-seen-before statistics to their fans, NFL Next Gen Stats and Daktronics can make it a reality.

This article is by Justin Ochsner
in Live Events Marketing.
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