Introduction

OK, let’s face it. Supply chain applications are one thing, but whenever I speak on RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), the one subject that consistently draws the most attention is golf balls. In my talks on RFID technology, I always include a slide or two detailing how Radar Golf, a small start-up in Roseville, California, has developed a system to RFID-enable golf balls, so that by using its handheld Ball Positioning System (BPS) you can find your chip-embedded ball in the brush, in the creek, in the tree, or wherever else it may land. While creating new efficiencies in distribution and new opportunities in retail may mean billions of dollars, the prospect of not losing golf balls anymore is what really excites people about RFID. Sports are typically one of the areas where people can readily see applications for RFID technology.

The wide world of sports is no doubt one of the sexiest applications for RFID on the horizon, and innovative companies across the globe are rushing into sports applications for the technology. We are seeing that, as with the golf ball example, the games themselves can be enhanced through the use of RFID technology. We are also seeing that RFID can be used to secure ticketing and enhance the in-stadium spectator experience. RFID can also create new metrics – and new gambling opportunities – in the sports world.

Goodbye to Bad Offside Decisions

We are seeing exciting, in-event applications of RFID technology in sports ranging from football (both the American oblong ball variety and that played in the rest of the world) to road racing in all its forms. Indeed, the most noteworthy in-game example to date comes in the world’s most popular sport – soccer. The Erlangen, Germany-based Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits has developed an RFID-based system to give complete visibility to the soccer field. Both the ball and a shin-guard on each of the 22 players are outfitted with RFID-chips, and readers positioned to scan the entire field can read the position of both the players and the “Smartball” up to two thousand times each second. The Fraunhofer system will not only allow for referees to consult the data to potentially aid in correctly calling disputed goals and troublesome offside decisions, but for soccer clubs and their fans to access performance metrics on their teams and individual players. The system, which is being tested by Adidas and by soccer’s world governing body, FIFA, is likely to be approved for tournament use this year.

Racing Events – from People to Pigeons

We have also seen that RFID can add value and visibility to racing events of all types. One of the longest standing applications of RFID has been in the area of marathon racing. The ChampionChip Company pioneered the use of RFID-chips attached to runners in the Berlin Marathon in 1994. Since then, the firm’s namesake tracking device has been worn by millions of road racers, cyclists, in-line skaters, cross-country skiers, and triathletes in thousands of events worldwide. The tracking device, which uses passive RFID technology with antennas built into specially-designed mats over which the athletes must pass, allows for the racers’ real, net times to be recorded as they pass the start-finish and other intervals along the course, as well as the “value-add” of real-time tracking via the Internet for friends, fans, press, and family members. It has been used in the New York City Marathon, where 50,000 runners per minute crossed the 36 meters-wide starting line at the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. In the June 2000 Broloppet half marathon, meanwhile, in which runners raced across the new bridge connecting Denmark and Sweden, a record 79,837 competitors were tracked using the ChampionChip. Commenting on the state of marathon technology, Judith Donohue, manager of HP’s New England Initiative, whose firm has worked with the Boston Marathon for over a decade, observed: “We’ve come a long way from when we used to draw a line in the street with chalk.”

RFID has moved into a wide variety of motor racing outlets. Texas Instruments has developed the Race Timer system for motorcycle racing, in which an RFID transponder is placed either on the motorcycle’s front fender or in the rider’s chest protector. The system is a quantum improvement on the previous method of single-file gates and either manual recording or scanning barcodes attached to riders’ helmets. With the TI system, the size of motorcycle events can grow significantly, supporting up to 1,000 riders in a single event. RFID has also been adopted by the IRL (Indy Racing League), with active transponders being positioned in the same point in the nose of the Indy Car and with antennas positioned around – and in – the track. With speeds of over 200 mph, the system can distinguish between two or more racecars passing the same point within a 10,000th of a second of each other. The system allows for real-time race tracking via the Internet for all IRL races, including the Indianapolis 500, where antennas are installed in the track surface in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s famous Yard of Bricks at the start-finish line of the “Old Brickyard”, as the track is known. Although NASCAR has not yet announced a similar in-race system, the fast-growing racing circuit is employing RFID for tracking tires used by all racing teams in its three racing circuits. The system will allow for centralized control over the Goodyear tires used in NASCAR events, in order to allow for an even playing field between the race teams and better control over tire stock. RFID also presents a very practical advantage over the former barcode-based labeling of tires for NASCAR events. Goodyear had in the past attempted to track tire inventory for race teams by applying barcode labels to the sidewalls. However, they quickly found that the barcode labels could be intentionally rubbed off or smudged when in use.

Finally, in a slower speed form of racing, RFID has been introduced in the ancient sport of pigeon racing. In the past, to determine timing and ranking in pigeon races, handlers had to catch pigeons one-by-one and read an identification number from metal rings attached to their legs. Today, the standard practice is to attach RFID-enabled plastic bands to the birds’ legs and position antennas at points along the course from the release point to the home loft.

Combating Counterfeit Tickets

With regards to spectators and fans, major developments are taking place in terms of ticketing and payment. There have been recent moves to use RFID to ensure that all tickets issued for an event are genuine, so protecting the revenue streams of sporting events from the threat of counterfeit tickets. For instance, in November 2005, Texas Instrument’s Tag-It RFID inlays were embedded into all 100,000 tickets for the Tennis Master’s Cup 2005, held in Shanghai, China. The event organizers used 16 stationary readers at the entrance gates to Shanghai’s Qi Zhong stadium, which is slated to host the event for three consecutive years through 2007. As Yang Yibin, deputy general manager of New Sports and Entertainment (Shanghai), a subsidiary of the Ba-Shi Group, explained, “Prior to using RFID, spectators were required to purchase a pre-event ticket holder and then exchange it for the physical ticket at the stadium box office. This new system not only offers peace of mind that the tickets purchased are genuine, it puts tickets in the purchaser’s hands faster and provides more efficient entry come event time.” In addition to the gate verification of the ticket, New Sports and Entertainment outfitted event staff members with handheld RFID readers to spot-check tickets inside the stadium. The 2006 World Cup in Germany has been deemed to be the largest use of RFID at any public event to date. This is because all 2.9 million tickets for the world’s most prestigious soccer tournament were embedded with RFID tags to prevent counterfeiting and to enhance security.

Cashless Payments at the Stadium

Sports clubs are at the cutting edge in terms of using smart bands and key fobs embedded with RFID chips as cashless payment methods for the in-stadium purchase of food, beverages, and souvenirs. Pioneered by several minor league baseball teams, the speed payment technology is crossing over to the major leagues. In the US, the National Football League is rapidly moving to employ the technology in its venues, and they certainly have incentive to do so. Early trials of the systems show that fans using the PowerPass system of New York-based Smart System Technologies (SST) consistently buy double the amount of beer, hot dogs, foam fingers, and other concession items. The transactions also take place in quick time (between two and six times faster than cash or credit card) and cash handling is taken out of the equation. Michael Richardson, SST’s chief technology officer, points to the fact that as NFL teams routinely sell out their games, the owners “have to look for new ways to raise incremental revenues beyond selling seats.” The three newest stadiums in the NFL are all using the technology with their season ticket holders.

Analysis

What does all this portend for the “Average Joe Six-Pack” sports fan? Well, RFID is on tap to transform the sports world over the next decade for players, coaches, spectators, and gamblers alike. We will see RFID-based systems replace some of the fundamental rule elements of sports, to the betterment of the game. After all, it is hard to believe that in 2009, we still measure first downs in American Football with a chain! We may also see the automation of some of the routine scoring and statistics compiled at major sporting events, such as line crossings in a wide variety of sports and distance calculations in golf. RFID will also bring heretofore unimaginable levels of information and intelligence to our games.

Already, there is speculation that RFID may enable new forms of wagering on sporting events with the new metrics that can be uncovered by the RFID-chipping of balls and players, creating new opportunities for casinos and sports books. In baseball for instance, RFID could enable gamblers to bet on things – in real-time – like the precise distance of a home run and the positioning of individual pitches. There is also speculation that some players and teams may not want to release such new statistics – how far they ran during a soccer or football game – for fear of revealing efforts that they may not be especially proud of.

In a larger sense however, it means that the sports world will be one of the primary stages for what futurist Paul Saffo has labeled as the “weird new media revolution” that RFID will usher in. Saffo foresees objects evolving into “smartifacts”, or intelligent artifacts, and with RFID-enabling, we can create new ways of doing things and create value and excitement in the process. Sports – conducted in the environment of “an Internet of things” – can be transformed into a much more intelligent – and enjoyable – endeavor on multiple dimensions.

Such sports-related applications may have an importance that stretches far beyond the fairways and the arenas in which they are found, for they may be an important way to introduce people to RFID and make them comfortable with the technology. In doing so, they may go a long way toward promoting pedestrian-level acceptance of RFID technology to enhance our daily lives and deliver new and exciting ways of looking at and experiencing common events through the “weird new media revolution.”

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David C. Wyld (dwyld@selu.edu) is the Robert Maurin Professor of Management at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana. He is a management consultant, researcher/writer, and executive educator.

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Video Rating: 3 / 5

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