No Stupid Questions

Football happens so fast all that extra input wouldn't help. These guys are generally pretty smart, have to be to calculate what's happening in real time. Guess I'm saying their bodies and minds are already running full throttle, more data would be overwhelming.

My bf was a high school All State offensive linemen, told me those were the smartest guys on the team, and I've heard that elsewhere. He could explain it far better, and that conversation was 20-years ago, but they have outstanding pattern matching skills, are able to make split second decisions and have dozens, maybe hundreds, of play patterns memorized. Think I've heard the center is the smartest guy next to the QB? Looks like a bunch of pushing and shoving, but that's because they're pros on both sides of the line, and both sides deny advantage. Point being, they're already observing and calculating quickly, more input would be a hindrance.

So how would they benefit? It's not like the enemy is hiding, he's right in front of you. Any player can see the whole field and they shout instructions before the ball snaps. I don't think even the smartest QB could be dodging defenders, looking for a receiver or a hole and still watch his HUD.

The coaches OTOH are certainly using tech and I believe they still have radio contact with the QB?

tl;dr: Too fast to be comparable to ground combat.

(Damned interesting question OP!)

I assume part of it is to keep things competitive. Like how Formula 1 limits the tech that cars are allowed to use. If the richest team with the best equipment always wins, that really takes the fun out of it.

Too much technology also can spoil the fun by being a distraction from the rest of the game. A few years ago there was a game where Jared Goff was receiving play calls through his helmet radio but his radio wasn't working properly. He would just stand on the field looking stupid and helpless for 20-30 seconds before every play, trying to listen to instructions. It looked bad and was a lame experience for the fans.

My uncle worked with the Ravens a while back on a VR training program but I believe what you're talking about is real time hud shit.

That being said, there's something cool about all these people being so coordinated and well trained without excessive cues and reminders. Your team can be big fast and strong but if it's not coordinated with the vanilla gear they have, it's going to be a shitshow

Apologies in advance, because this is in no way an answer to your question.

It is, however, related to the thought and super cool:

https://www.sbnation.com/a/17776-football

Extremely expensive to upgrade to and broadcast. Most places that broadcast NFL games still do it in 1080p instead of 4k. NFL makes a lot of money, but not enough for that.

Plus it would take excitement out of the game and players would have more information than the referees. This would lead to disappointment when a play is called or not called or a foul happens the referees didn't see, etc. This already happens a little bit and NFL fans are heated about it, I don't think this kind of tech is viable for football.

The sport is an experience, and part of that experience is the current way it is broadcast.

Also:

What could possibly be more American than mock battles over an inflated pig carcass with military tech shit?

This is worded in an unnecessarily rude and inflammatory manner.

Lol I want them to just start by having a fuckin sensor in the balls to know where and if the ball is spotted, if it was in play or out of bounds and if for nothing else, be able to spot exactly where shit like an out of bounds kickoff will get spotted. Now it's just a dude standing 70-80 yds away guessing the angle it was kicked from and where it was when it crossed the out of bounds line.

Radio tech is used already. But the NFL limits who can use it during games. Iirc, it's one player on offense, and one on defense, plus the coaches. You wouldn't really want every player having coms. It would just be a confusing mess during a game; you really don't want your receiver hearing an offensive lineman grunting while they're supposed to be focused on catching a ball. Radios were originally banned, and it took a decade or so for the NFL to allow them.

Everyone already knows their job, they know the play, and they're pro players because they have the ability to make good decisions on the field when a deviation from a called play is needed. So all you need is coms between someone on the sidelines with an outside perspective and the job of crafting the overall strategy and whoever is coordinating the team on the field. And that's true of every team sport.

As a player, you really don't want to deal with the distraction of a voice in your ear while you're trying to execute. It's distracting enough with non radio shouting during play.

As far as AR goes, it wouldn't be as useful as you'd think. It's still down to what you actually need and want to have in your senses while in play. And that's going to be very little. You don't want an overhead view because that splits your focus. Multitasking always comes with a decrease in effectiveness for each individual task, humans just have limits to what our brains can do.

Even a backwards view in the corner of your eye is of limited use on average because you need your field of view clear to detect movement in your peripheral vision. It might be a benefit when on offense and running the ball, but it wouldn't work for every player, and you'd have enough that would be reduced in their abilities that it wouldn't be worth it.

I really can't think of any sport where ar would be useful where it wouldn't also defeat the purpose of doing it. Like, archery or shooting where the ar would tell you exactly when your aim is ideal. At that point, you aren't doing anything except pulling the trigger or drawing the bow. There's no fun in that, no point in even doing it. Individual sports, you might benefit from coms with your coach, but having done some of those at an amateur level, radio wouldn't be any better than just having them yell. Combat sports, the only way they would be useful is in grappling, and you don't want anything physically in your ear when grappling at all. The risk of injury is too high. Ears already take a beating in combat sports.

The kind of coordination you need in the military, it just isn't beneficial in football, no matter which of the football versions that are played at a level where the gear would not be prohibitively expensive. You might see some benefit in rec leagues where the players aren't paid to practice the way pros are, but it would be way too expensive at that level.

It would be even more American with AR-15s, wouldn't it? Why didn't it go there yet?