A Durham-based company will be on the front lines for Super Bowl 50.
SMT, a sports technology company, created the yellow first down lines for football games on television, and they’re unveiling new technology that will be used for this year’s Super Bowl.
The SMT team will be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with directors and producers of the big game, churning out all the graphics people will see on their TVs.
Don Tupper, vice president of business development, is one of of 11 employees heading to Santa Clara next week to begin prepping.
SMT rolled out new technology last weekend—3D graphics unveiled at the AFC Championship game. For the Super Bowl, the company will unveil a super-sized graphic package.
“The weather changes, the lighting changes; shadows change, so we have to have the processing power to keep up,” said Tupper. “Every single player in the NFL is wearing a chip. Rob Gronkowski—we know every single route that he ran.”
With data coming in from every player 10 times per second, the new technology will quickly analyze it and predict the chances of success on any given play.
“Something happens—bang, bang—you’ll come back and see a replay, and we need to be ready to put down virtual graphics or statistics based on the data coming from the players,” said Hans Weber, vice president of research and development.
Information that typically isn’t available for a week, after statisticians pore over the data, will now be available live.
SMT has been supplying technology for the Super Bowl since 2000. The company also delivers data and graphics for NCAA basketball, the PGA Tour, Indy 500, NASCAR, the National Hockey League and the Triple Crown.
CREDITS
- Reporter: Kathryn Brown
- Photographer: Edward Wilson
- Web Editor: Jonathan Stout
