Picture fruits, nuts, seeds and veggies, throw in a little almond milk, but hold off on the strawberries. That’s what former professional football player Tom Brady likes to include in his morning smoothie (allegedly). According to TB12, a nutrition company co-founded by Brady, the National Football League (NFL) GOAT adheres to an 80% plant-based and 20% animal-based diet. The former quarterback’s rumored strict and eccentric diet has been, and continues to be, a topic of buzz for sports enthusiasts. Over his 23-year career, headlines claiming that he avoids household foods such as tomatoes have fascinated large-scale audiences.
Why are fans obsessed? Professional athletes need to remain in the best shape to stay at the top of their game. Not only has everything put into their bodies been studied, analyzed and curated, but also everything that happens to them on the field. Technological advancements have transformed traditional American football from a leisurely pastime to a high-profile, multi-billion-dollar affair. And big data is at the center of it.
The numbers are on more than jerseys
Data plays a critical role in professional sports — both on the playing field and behind the scenes. Regardless of the sport, these organizations typically have a common goal: Deliver a quality game that enhances fan experiences. But accomplishing this successfully requires a vast amount of diverse and disparate data, which is difficult to secure.
To understand how to protect this data, sports organizations, IT teams and service providers need to know where it derives from. From the NFL, National Basketball Association (NBA), and Major League Baseball (MLB) to Premier League Football and Major League Cricket (MLC), these fast-paced professional sports organizations divide critical data into four main categories: player performance; sports entities and sports properties; business and analytics; and fan engagement.
Monitoring, tracking and improving performance: Why player health is a win for all
The vigor and excitement in the stands shroud the stadium, creating lasting memories. But sometimes, those memories aren’t always positive. Unfortunately, the world of sports is both rigorous and physically demanding, which is accompanied by a high risk of injury for athletes. In-game accidents can result in career-ending injuries that are, in some cases, life-threatening.
One example was the palpable moment the Buffalo Bills’ Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest after a tackle in a game against their NFL opponent, the Cincinnati Bengals. Another was the time the Premier League team West Ham’s Dean Ashton broke his ankle in training, causing him to retire early at the age of 26.
The good news is that leagues around the globe are innovating and adopting groundbreaking technologies to not only curb head, chest and lower extremity injury but also extend the length of athletes’ careers.
Here are some examples of how technology is leveraged in modern sports:
Helmets, shoulder pads and cleats equipped with RFID tags
Today’s sports equipment protects players beyond the physical elements. Helmets, shoulder pads, jerseys and cleats are fastened with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. These sensors send messages to on-field ultrawide band receivers that collect real-time data on player movement, including speed, position and distance in practice and during the game. This critical data can be incorporated into reports that are analyzed by the performance staff and coaches. The information is used to optimize on-field time, athlete exercise load and fatigue level, which can enable teams to prevent injury and make informed recovery decisions.
Instrumented mouthguards
In 2019, the NFL introduced an instrumented mouthguard sensor program as part of a $60 million commitment to player health and safety. Each mouthguard is precisely molded to fit the player. Sensors embedded in the mouthguard enable staff to collect intimate data on the player's head movement that, until now, was unable to be captured unless using high-definition, freeze-frame video.
The downside of analyzing freeze-frame video is that each frame is examined one at a time after an on-field event. Now, with these advanced mouthguards, teams can detect real-time, head-on impacts during games. For instance, if a player is hit in the helmet while being tackled or blocked, performance experts can record granular data on what their head experiences in the moment. These insights can be used to help minimize helmet contact in plays and reduce traumatic head injuries.
Data-driven, personalized player health plans
Why is player health and performance data so important? With cutting-edge information, teams are empowered to keep players on the field more sustainably by preventing injuries and providing personalized medicine tailored to each athlete. The beauty of wearable technologies is that staff can glean insights to help players perform their best, improve game quality and augment the fan experience.
A chip in every ball: How sports technology, innovation and data shape game-play decisions
Remember trading baseball cards with friends at recess? Every kid wanted to get their hands on the players with the best statistics. Go figure. Well, a lot has changed since then. Now, the latest player performance stats are delivered directly to fans on their smartphone, tablet, TV and computer screens with the help of advanced sports technologies. RFID tags and ultrawide band receivers aid in collecting highly valuable sports entities’ data.
For example, RFID tags are often used in a football to track player speed, velocity, passing rates, rushing attempt yards and pass completion during gameplay. Teams use sports data aggregated from multiple sources on the field to fine-tune game strategies. They analyze this data to identify weaknesses in their plays.
Despite the advantages, there are a few caveats with sports entities’ data; for instance, it can be exploited by competitor teams and misused in sports betting. According to the American Bar Association, there’s a dark side of sports betting with the abuse of sports data. Legalized sports betting hinges on the security and integrity of critical sports data. In one example, wagers up the ante in live sports betting by placing bets on a particular player scoring a touchdown. They place these bets in good faith assuming that player performance data and statistics are clean.
Another mounting source of unstructured data: video and video analysis data. High-resolution video content is fundamental to delivering an immersive and engaging experience to fans. From trendy video montages to live streaming, a gargantuan amount of video data is generated by sports teams. And the video footage is also used by coaches and sports analysts to dissect gameplays and player performance.
Additionally, pro sports leagues handle high volumes of sports properties’ data. This can include critical information on leagues, teams, facilities and events that play a role in managing sponsorship, sales, advertising and marketing objectives.
Huddle up on cybersecurity for athletes, sports organizations and fans
Business, analytics and fan engagement information are essential datasets in professional sports. Unsurprisingly, sports organizations have traditional departments like any normal business, including IT, marketing, sales, finance, human resources and legal. And, there’s an abundance of information due to the high-profile nature of these enterprises.
Moreover, sports businesses are rich with fan engagement data such as viewership, attendance, merchandise sales and social media activity metrics. Marketing analysts use this information to strategize fruitful opportunities to enhance the fan experience and intensify excitement in the game. On the topic of fans, teams must also protect personal identifiable information (PII), including payment information. When stadium goers and online shoppers buy tickets or flock to purchase jerseys, memorabilia, hats and thermoses, they exchange sensitive payment information during transactions.
Cyberthreats are crossing the line of scrimmage
Sports leagues and teams are high-value targets of cyberthreats and data breaches for two primary reasons: They handle massive amounts of sensitive data, which is both diverse and disparate, making it difficult to protect. There’s a lot at stake for professional sports organizations with billions of dollars on the line, and naturally, cybercriminals want a slice of the pie.
The ramifications of a data breach are seismic, with reputational, legal and financial implications — often on a national or international scale, with the most disruptive consequence being the erosion of fan trust.
Protecting sports data: The role of managed service providers
The in-house IT departments at sport organizations have a broad scope of responsibilities, one of which is protecting all of their data. Often, the intricacies, nuances and complexities of protecting the entirety of this critical data requires dedicated expertise. High-profile sports organizations have astronomical proportions of data that are at rest, in motion or in use at all times. This is why many professional sports organizations often partner with managed service providers (MSPs) that leverage advanced data protection and cybersecurity solutions, have devoted expertise and are experienced at handling such an undertaking.
MSPs play an essential role by driving critical data protection and cybersecurity services in professional sports technology partnerships. The benefits are twofold: Sports leagues get premium cybersecurity, backup and recovery services, and MSPs get the opportunity to increase their brand’s visibility and business growth.
Of course, a successful technology partnership relies on the MSP’s knowledge, technologies and practices. This is why it’s so important that services providers choose the right vendors and invest in scalable, easy-to-use and cost-effective solutions.
What is the Acronis #TeamUp program?
Acronis #TeamUp is a sports marketing program that empowers MSPs to partner with some of the world’s most elite professional sports teams. The Acronis #TeamUp Program is a strategic partnership that helps MSPs of all sizes elevate brand recognition, generate leads and boost revenue.
Acronis #TeamUp partners help protect high-profile sports teams with natively integrated Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud, a solution ecosystem built for MSPs that unifies cybersecurity, data protection and endpoint management in a single solution and centralized console. This simplifies security management and empowers MSPs to rapidly deploy, implement and protect sports organization IT environments, including Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. One of the perks is that MSPs of all sizes can get their business logo featured across stadiums, banners and signage.
If you’re an existing Acronis partner and want to take your partnership to the next level with #TeamUp, reach out to your account manager to kick off a discussion.
Alternatively, new and existing Acronis partners can click the button below:
Explore how Acronis helps professional sports teams and MSPs secure critical data on and off the field:
- Case study: Nobletec protects the NFL’s Chicago Bears with Acronis
- Case study: The Ocean Race ensures cybersecurity and data protection in the most remote areas of the globe with Acronis
- Case study: EveryCloud IT and Acronis deliver secure backups to Fulham Football Club
- Case study: Walkinshaw Andretti United motorsports team secures Microsoft 365 with Acronis and Think Technology Australia
About Acronis
A Swiss company founded in Singapore in 2003, Acronis has 15 offices worldwide and employees in 50+ countries. Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud is available in 26 languages in 150 countries and is used by over 20,000 service providers to protect over 750,000 businesses.
