DURHAM, N.C. — 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.