If you’ve noticed an uptick in advanced stats when you tune into NFL games this season, you’re not alone. NFL Next Gen Stats are being used by the league’s broadcast partners more this year than ever before.
Benjamin Solak of The Ringer reports that this season, the NFL surpassed last year’s total references to NGS on air in Week 9. Solak spoke with Keegan Abdoo who works at NGS about how Prime Video and other broadcast partners are incorporating the stats, and Abdoo said their usage is “night and day” compared with previous seasons.
Those dot video play charts you see on X and Reddit on Sundays? Those are from NGS. The service uses player tracking to capture” “real time location data, speed and acceleration for every player, every play on every inch of the field,” according to its website.
NGS uses a combination of photo sensors in stadiums and tracking tags on players’ pads to recreate each movement and analyze it.
Solak’s feature at The Ringer looks specifically at Amazon’s use of these stats on its Prime Vision secondary broadcast of Thursday Night Football.
There’s synergy at play to be sure with Amazon Web Services powering NGS on the technical side. But Abdoo estimated that 95 percent of the notes NGS provides are picked up by the Prime Vision broadcast.
Solak’s piece is worth a read to understand how Amazon is approaching Thursday Night Football and where NFL broadcasts could be headed. It’s not just QR code coupons, Dave Chang or Dude Perfect. They want to bring predictive technology and real-time analysis to football coverage in a big way.
