This summer, the National Football League announced a new partnership naming longstanding collaborator Sony as an official technology partner of the NFL, as well as the new official headphone provider of the NFL.
Through this partnership, Sony and the NFL will work collaboratively with coaches, players, teams, and leadership across the organization to design and implement the future of football AV. This includes an expansion of Sony’s sports technology through Hawk-Eye Innovations to support officiating, and the development of on-field and sideline technologies, including a new coach’s sideline headset that will debut in the 2025 season.
The NFL and Sony will work closely to develop this new headset supporting coach-to-coach communication on the field. These will be powered by Verizon Business’ Managed Private Wireless Solution running on Verizon’s 5G network.
Sony’s Hawk-Eye tracking services will be utilized to further enhance the accuracy of game-critical items like line-to-gain measurement. Additionally, Sony’s Beyond Sports and its expertise in real-time visualization provide an opportunity to help engage next-gen NFL fans.
“Advancing technology on and off the field is a top priority for the NFL,” said Gary Brantley, chief information officer at the NFL, saying the ultimate goal is to bring fans closer to game-day action. The partnership will support the NFL’s growing AV ecosystem, with Hawk-Eye, Sony’s advancing imaging products, and the new headset development.
Sony is already deeply integrated throughout NFL games, supporting fan and team AV experiences including sideline photography, broadcast cameras and production, technology that supports officiating, enhancements for in-stadium fan experiences, and more.
Sony’s extensive technology solutions have captured some of the most memorable moments of the NFL. Within the game itself, Hawk-Eye’s technology has supported the NFL Officiating Department to review and make critical rulings on plays. For the coming seasons, Hawk-Eye and the NFL will collaborate in the development of a next-generation officiating technology taking advantage Hawk-Eye’s state-of-art line-to-gain optical tracking technology to review and make critical rulings on plays. Additionally, the technology and data captured by Hawk-Eye paired with player tracking data from the NFL’s Next Gen Stats powered by AWS and Sony’s Beyond Sports’ visualization technology will create new avenues for real-time content creation like ESPN, Disney, and the NFL’s Emmy-award winning “Toy Story Funday Football” which bring a younger and more global audience to the game.
Since 2020, Sony has been the exclusive imaging products and support provider for The Associated Press and the definitive source for NFL imagery, providing images of the league’s most defining moments over the course of the last four years.
Sony cameras have also been used by CBS Sports, ESPN, FOX Sports, and NBC Sports for decades, including coverage of the league’s biggest games and the Super Bowl.
Sony products and technologies are used extensively in many NFL stadiums across the country, with opportunities to expand further as teams and organizations continue to evolve their in-game experiences for fans. The new NFL Network studios in Inglewood, California have recently shifted many of their key operations and cameras over to Sony technology.
