The yellow line seems like a simple addition to the television experience, but major equipment and technology is utilized to create the most accurate rendition of the first down line.
From a technological standpoint, there were many considerations needed to maintain a realistic line on the field at all times. With constant zooming and camera panning, the technology needed to account for camera focus at all times to ensure that the first down line would properly react to rapid changes in the camera shot.
This required major cable connections between sports vision, the company running the technology and the television network. For instance, the broadcast could not be completely live to the viewer as the system required a quick time delay for the yellow line to be accurately calculated and rendered on the screen, forcing the networks to enforce an extra second delay on all broadcasts that featured the technology.
There are various physical issues with creating the line on the field. First, football fields aren’t a perfect rectangle. To prevent flooding in the middle of the field, the fields are generally sloped downwards as drainage. However, different stadiums have different drainage systems so a solution for one field may not necessarily translate to another. Therefore, in the early years of the lines conception, engineering teams had to laser scan the fields before each game to synchronize the physical field with the virtual product they were creating. With different conditions, this process was a major time and money hole and would need to be improved in later years.
Not only did the first down perspective need to remain proportional to the camera, it also needed to be steady and not distracting on the screen. In the company’s first test, the line would stutter and jitter at certain points during the broadcast. The television network had to decide whether it was worth it to continue tweaking the design of the first down technology or to just air it as is in the first NFL game of the year. ESPN decided to wait a couple of weeks to fix the bug, which proved to be an excellent decision. The first and ten technology was met with rave reviews due to thorough initial testing and design and not trying to force the technology before it was ready.
The emerging design principle of distilling a complex technology into a simple straightforward product is clearly represented in the yellow first down line. The complexity of the first down line technology represented a significant risk for ESPN because of the high technology cost for a simplistic idea. However along with Sportsvision, ESPN identified a significant need among football fans and determined that the high technology cost was worth the risk and would revolutionize the game of football. ESPN was on the forefront of creating an easily consumed product with a technology that very few can understand. The yellow first down line lead the way for some of the most influential technologies that have come out of the last few decades because it illustrated that a high technology investment is worthwhile even for products that seem straightforward.
From a technological standpoint, there were many considerations needed to maintain a realistic line on the field at all times. With constant zooming and camera panning, the technology needed to account for camera focus at all times to ensure that the first down line would properly react to rapid changes in the camera shot.
This required major cable connections between sports vision, the company running the technology and the television network. For instance, the broadcast could not be completely live to the viewer as the system required a quick time delay for the yellow line to be accurately calculated and rendered on the screen, forcing the networks to enforce an extra second delay on all broadcasts that featured the technology.
There are various physical issues with creating the line on the field. First, football fields aren’t a perfect rectangle. To prevent flooding in the middle of the field, the fields are generally sloped downwards as drainage. However, different stadiums have different drainage systems so a solution for one field may not necessarily translate to another. Therefore, in the early years of the lines conception, engineering teams had to laser scan the fields before each game to synchronize the physical field with the virtual product they were creating. With different conditions, this process was a major time and money hole and would need to be improved in later years.
Not only did the first down perspective need to remain proportional to the camera, it also needed to be steady and not distracting on the screen. In the company’s first test, the line would stutter and jitter at certain points during the broadcast. The television network had to decide whether it was worth it to continue tweaking the design of the first down technology or to just air it as is in the first NFL game of the year. ESPN decided to wait a couple of weeks to fix the bug, which proved to be an excellent decision. The first and ten technology was met with rave reviews due to thorough initial testing and design and not trying to force the technology before it was ready.
The emerging design principle of distilling a complex technology into a simple straightforward product is clearly represented in the yellow first down line. The complexity of the first down line technology represented a significant risk for ESPN because of the high technology cost for a simplistic idea. However along with Sportsvision, ESPN identified a significant need among football fans and determined that the high technology cost was worth the risk and would revolutionize the game of football. ESPN was on the forefront of creating an easily consumed product with a technology that very few can understand. The yellow first down line lead the way for some of the most influential technologies that have come out of the last few decades because it illustrated that a high technology investment is worthwhile even for products that seem straightforward.