NFL, NASCAR Share Vision with Potential

With the NFL Scouting Combine under way in Indianapolis and NASCAR ready to jump start its season in Daytona, Fla., the all-powerful, TV-dominant pro football league could learn at least one thing from stock-car racing's top circuit -- how to better serve fans who attend events in person.

Because the NFL has long understood that it's providing television programming as much as quality competition, it has grown into TV juggernaut. During the fall TV season, for example, NFL games dominated the ratings, with 23 regular-season games among the season's 25 top-rated programs. And, of course, the Super Bowl between the Giants and Patriots was the most-watched TV show in history.

Honestly, the NFL's only competition, in terms of putting fans in the stands at stadiums across the country, comes from the NFL, and fans with high-definition, wide-screen TVs in their living rooms across the country who might prefer to watch from home rather than tailgate and watch in person at the stadium.

The stay-at-home experience has become so good that it has impacted attendance (albeit slightly) on gameday. It's a minor problem for the league and owners at this point, but they know they must combat the problem and make coming to the game special.

To do that, the NFL should more widely adapt and utilize FanVision -- a tool a third of league teams have already tapped and that gets widespread use in NASCAR. The hand-held device provides broadcast content to fans on location, and it differs from that available on smartphones and other wireless devices because it does not rely on cell-phone providers or Internet connections. Instead, it's pretty much direct access to a local (stadium-only) broadcast of the game or race.

With FanVision, NASCAR fans get access to live broadcast feeds and replays, eight on-board cameras, a digital radio scanner, official timing, statistics and even the ability to follow specific drivers. For the 10 NFL teams that use the service, the offerings are similar -- replays, statistics, broadcasts of other games, fantasy football statistics, the NFL Red Zone Channel and even self-selected views of the game.

It's important that the NFL, and all pro sports leagues for that matter, expand use of FanVision as a means to enhance the gameday stadium experience for fans. It's not possible to rival the huge, high-definition TVs that fans have in their homes, but technology (even through a smaller screen) can help change the experience of fans who attend games or races in person.

In fairness to some fans who adopted the technology early, FanVision made its predecessor, FanView, obsolete. That obsolescence came at a price, and it has probably hurt NASCAR's efforts at least slightly in the short run. Because the devices are costly, even to rent, NASCAR should do a better job than it has so far of helping those with the now-outdated FanView.

Still, FanVision has the potential to help revolutionize how leagues and teams improve the experience for fans at the stadium. Some NFL teams have made the device available to certain pockets of their fan base, and that's a good start. Finding a way to keep the service cost effective and make it more widely used could be another positive TV-related move for the league, though.