The entire sports industry in the U.S. is worth an estimated $414 billion. That’s a tremendous amount of money finding its way into the pockets of a large number of people.
Be it fans, owners, players or bookies in Las Vegas, the sports industry affects just about everyone whether they like it or not.
Because of the immense amount of financial swing from the outcome of a single game, or even a single instant, all precautions necessary should be taken to ensure players follow and are held to the rules in every second of every game.
Unfortunately, much of the professional sports world is straggling in the realm of rule enforcement and technology.
Major League Baseball is the most obvious offender in this crime of stubborn neglect of the blessings offered by technology. MLB only uses instant replay for disputes of fair versus foul balls or home runs and fan interference.
It’s shortsighted to imply this farce is sufficient to make sure only important plays get a second opinion. In baseball, the difference between one man and two men on base with no outs can mean everything.
In NCAA football, attending a bowl game could mean the financial salvation of a school struggling against budget cuts. But if some administrator says only certain plays are worth reviewing, that interception that originally saved the game is no good and your team loses both the game and a big payday.
Who are the corporate officials of the respective athletic leagues to predict the future and say certain plays and events are more or less important than others?
Because the realm of sports has expanded to its current extent, fans, supporters and everyone affected by sports deserve a higher orchestration of officiating.
At no fault of their own, officials of their respective sports are human and subsequently imperfect. They are bound to make mistakes at some point in their careers.
Why does the humanity of a particular official or group of officials have to cost so many? The answer is commonly because of stubborn arguments of tradition or impracticality, etc.
Technology has advanced tremendously, and with the revenue athletics generates, sports adaptation only takes pocket change.
Electronic sensors could measure the exact position of any type of ball in a 3-D space. In football, there would be no question about the ball breaking the plane if it had sensors to measure it. In baseball, a foul ball would always be a foul ball.
Tennis already makes use of optical technology called Hawk-Eye to determine the location of a ball inside of, on or outside of the line. Why can’t other sports do it?
Sensors in players’ jerseys could avoid terrible calls like those against the U.S. World Cup team from the past summer — offsides would never be a matter of question.
Football players could have sensors in their helmets, gloves, jerseys and shoes to determine the location of all appendages and eliminate questions of out or in, interfering or not.
Also, the data recorded about players’ motion could be used to analyze and optimize technique.
Scientists could also use this data to study human physiology and potentially contribute to the world of biomechanics, aiding amputees and people needing prosthetics.
Unfortunately, change doesn’t happen overnight, so this idealistic world devoid of bad officiating calls won’t happen anytime soon. But the more attention it gets, the more likely it will change.
Matt Lousteau is a 21-year-old mechanical engineering senior from LaPlace. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_Mlousteau.
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Contact Matt Lousteau at [email protected]