NFL Makes a Play With Microsoft Surface Tablets on the Field

There's a new player suiting up for the NFL season — one with the potential to affect almost every play.

It's the Microsoft Surface, which made its on-field debut during the preseason game between the Buffalo Bills and New York Giants on Sunday.

The Surface tablets will make it easier for teams to review plays on the fly. Currently, the NFL uses sideline cameras to capture action; those photos are then relayed to a printer, where someone takes the printouts, stuffs them in a binder, and runs them to the coaches. Even with black and white photos, the process takes about 30 seconds minimum, according to a Microsoft blog post about the partnership.

Clearly, there is a lot of room for high-tech improvement. With special Surface Pro 2 tablets connected to a private Wi-Fi network at the stadium, those same photos can get to the coaches' hands just a few seconds after the play happens. The photos are also in full color; the players and coaches will be able to zoom in on details and even annotate the pictures with a digital pen.

What they won't be able to do is tweet or check email.

The heavily modified Surface tablets can only run essentially one app: the Sideline Viewing System (SVS). Even the cameras are disabled, Bloomberg reports.

The device lockdown is partly to keep things simple, but also to ensure the devices adhere to NFL regulations, which prohibit computers of any kind on the sidelines. That's the reason the photo process has been so decidedly low-tech for so long, and Microsoft worked with the NFL to ensure the Surfaces were scrubbed of anything that could lend an unfair advantage to either team.

Why the Surface Pro 2 and not the newer, sleeker Surface Pro 3? Probably because the deal was in place before the latest model made its debut in the late spring, and the Surface Pro 2 is physically modified, too; it has a thicker bezel to ensure it will stand up to the punishment of the NFL season.

You'd think that if the NFL was prioritizing durability, it would have chosen a Panasonic ToughPad or something similar, but remember — there are marketing dollars here at work, too. The Surface's game day arrival is rooted in a partnership between Microsoft and the NFL, which began last year. Microsoft also debuted new NFL apps for Xbox and Windows 8 just in time for the start of the preseason.

Posted by : Gizemon