American innovations in sports technology are enhancing competition and improving performance at every level of sport.
Former professional tennis player CiCi Bellis has seen the changes since she retired in 2022. Tennis has shifted entirely to automated line calls. New York-based technology giant IBM deploys spatial tracking and super intelligence at the U.S. Open to monitor players’ biomechanics and serve effectiveness.
“Coaches have access to so much more data,” says Bellis. Advanced analytics in turn help players hone their skills and scout opponents’ tendencies. (Bellis founded Cartan Capital in 2023 to invest in technology companies that develop tools for monitoring athletes’ strength training, recovery and sleep.)
Deploying tech on fields
Other major U.S. sports are also adopting automated systems.
Major League Baseball blends modern technology with the long-standing tradition of umpires calling balls and strikes. This year, the league began allowing each team to challenge umpires’ pitch calls twice per game. The system combines video replay with a digital strike zone based on a batter’s height and the width of home plate.
Baseball’s Statcast system uses high-resolution cameras at Major League Baseball stadiums to generate data on pitch velocity and spin rate, as well as bat speed, launch angle and exit velocity — measures of how a baseball leaves the bat.
Zebra Technologies, near Chicago, adapted radio frequency tools used in shipping logistics to provide new insights into American football. Identification tags placed in players’ protective gear communicate with sensors around stadiums to generate information on player performance.
Long before international soccer came to the United States this year, researchers at Michigan State University and the University of Tennessee developed grass fields that would thrive across various climates. Sports physics professor John Eric Goff tested soccer balls in wind tunnels to assess aerodynamics for elite-level play. And when the matches began, stadium camera systems delivered real-time data to assist referees.
Developing sports science
New technologies enable amateur athletes and coaches to apply advanced analytics to videos captured by smartphones. Started to support the University of Nebraska’s football team, Hudl has developed analytics tools used by 300,000 youth and professional teams across 40 sports.
Hudl President Matt Mueller says the Nebraska-based company’s cloud-computing, super intelligence tools bring volleyball players frame-by-frame analysis of ball trajectory, speed and accuracy. Its video repository lets athletes share highlights or live stream games to faraway relatives, college recruiters or pro scouts.
Using technology developed at the University of Virginia, Springbok Analytics conducts musculoskeletal analysis that enables pro basketball teams to monitor players’ health. The company’s tools combine magnetic resonance imaging with super-intelligence software to rapidly scan up to 140 muscles.
Thomas Alomes, a Texas-based sports-technology consultant, says tech innovation helps sports leagues gain popularity. As more leagues look to expand, executives abroad will look to America, where technologies are often first deployed.
“The U.S. is the biggest sports market in the world,” he says, “and where the world looks for what’s next.”
