Over the past decade, the NFL has been facing significant scrutiny over player safety due to increased knowledge and understanding of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). A degenerative brain disease caused by repetitive trauma, CTE has been found predominantly in former NFL players and other athletes who competed in high impact sports (1). In response to the negative backlash caused by new CTE research, the NFL started to collect and study player data in order to make changes that enhance safety. Indeed, the NFL has already begun implementing changes to games and practices based on their analysis.
More recently, the NFL released a proprietary data set along with Next Gen Stats and RFID chip-collected tracking data from the 2016 and 2017 seasons to start an annual crowdsourcing competition called 1st & Future (2). The 1st & Future entrants competed for a $50k grant for the first place winner and $20k grants for up to four finalists (3). What is amazing about the competition is that the entrants get unlimited access to the cherished tracking data from Zebra Technologies’. These data were so highly touted that only this past football season all 32 individual NFL teams were given access (4).
The transparency created from the 1st & Future competition has paid massive dividends to the NFL Competition Committee, which in turn has used the crowdsourced results to improve player safety. The NFL used the analysis gathered from the 2018 winners to make massive changes to the kickoffs, including eliminating the wedge, moving the kickoff to the 35-yard line, and disallowing the kickoff team from getting a running start (5). The numbers have not been released for the 2018 season, but during the preseason the NFL reported that injuries on kickoffs were down, and that included zero concussions (6). The winners of the 2019 competition have made many suggestions to improve the punt play, which include incentivizing fair catches and outlawing the double coverage of gunners (7). We will see if the Competition Committee uses any of these suggestions in the upcoming months.
As of right now, the NFL is the only professional league to utilize crowdsourcing to modernize play and practice of their sport. What other sports leagues could benefit from utilizing crowdsourcing to improve their product? What other ways could the NFL utilize data to improve safety and other aspects of their sport? Traditionally, scouting information and data have been held in high secrecy and treated as private intel for coaches’ eyes only. Imagine if they released those data—could the power of the crowd reveal team tendencies that would have never been uncovered in the first place?
References
(1) Foundation, Concussion Legacy. “What Is CTE?” Concussion Legacy Foundation, 6 Nov. 2018, concussionfoundation.org/CTE-resources/what-is-CTE.
(2, 4) Lemire, Joe. “NFL Crowdsources Punt Safety Ideas From Zebra Player Tracking Data.” SportTechie, 5 Dec. 2018, www.sporttechie.com/nfl-crowdsource-zebra-tracking-data-next-gen-stats-1st-and-future/.
(3, 7) Lemire, Joe. “NFL’s 1st & Future Honors Injury Reduction Tech, New Punt Play Ideas.” SportTechie, 4 Feb. 2019, www.sporttechie.com/nfl-1st-future-topspin-solius-punt/.
(5) Maske, Mark. “The NFL Wants to ‘Modernize’ the Punt, and It’s Taking Suggestions.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 4 Dec. 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2018/12/04/nfl-wants-modernize-punt-its-taking-suggestions/?utm_term=.59d23c815d83.
(6) Seifert, Kevin. “The NFL’s Rule Tweaks Are Saving the Kickoff from Extinction.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 15 Nov. 2018, www.espn.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/287320/the-nfl-rule-tweaks-saving-kickoff-from-extinction.
Just wrote this for a class assignment for my Master's.
I figured it would be an intersting topic to dicuss here. 
Its a syndrome. Associated with an injury or injuries.
Its a syndrome. Associated with an injury or injuries.
It is. The deterioration starts from the repetitive brain trauma, after that it progresses to degeneration. You can read about it in the first linked source.
Great addition to the conversation. Which former poster where you that got banned?
Quote:
A bullshit piece for the sheeple from the NFL PR deparment.
Great addition to the conversation. Which former poster where you that got banned?
lel and of course one the unthinking sheeple right on cue. "Crowdsourcing" is almost as bad a buzzword as teh "analytics" used by clowns on this forum.
Quote:
In comment 14300740 Coach Red Beaulieu said:
Quote:
A bullshit piece for the sheeple from the NFL PR deparment.
Great addition to the conversation. Which former poster where you that got banned?
lel and of course one the unthinking sheeple right on cue. "Crowdsourcing" is almost as bad a buzzword as teh "analytics" used by clowns on this forum.
Are you one of the many Siamo dupes?
Why don’t you try Googling “is cte a disease”?
Maybe this goes to antother discussion, but the disease component is pretty profound. The trauma causes the degenerative process rather than the degeneration itself. So if you could stop the degenerative process, then you could suffer as much head trauma as you want and not get CTE.