4 Trends Driving The Digital Sports Playbook

In the recently completed Major League Baseball regular season, pitchers threw 118 complete games. Compare that with 1980, when 856 complete games were tossed, including 94 just by the Oakland Athletics (bonus points if you can name the reliever who led the A’s in saves that year!). Over the past 35 years, the MLB trend shifted from letting starters go as deep as possible into games to pulling them after certain pitch counts or any hint of trouble. Though decried by baseball purists, the lack of complete games coincides with an effort to reduce injuries, to maximize in-game strategy, and, ultimately, to win.

1. Mobile technology

The advent of iPads, Surfaces, and other tablets has definitely changed the sports playbook approach. Previously, plays were stored in a binder or drawn on a chalkboard; game film could only be watched in the clubhouse. With tablets, the sports playbook is more efficient—plays can be added remotely and automatically, even if the player or coach’s iPad is asleep. Game film can be watched anywhere, and instant feedback can be left for teammates and coaches.  

2. Video

Game film has been a part of teams’ planning for decades, but as previously stated, there are limitations. Today’s technology eliminates those constraints and turns the sports playbook into a powerful, multilayered tool. Want to see every route a slot receiver is running against a nickel package? What side of the field an opposing slugger is hitting to off southpaws? Which way a goalkeeper more often shades on penalty kicks? Video managers who assemble this content don’t have to wait for players or coaches to arrive at team headquarters to see it, but instead can send it directly to their tablets. Video can also be linked to specific plays in the sports playbook—study a play, then watch the video to see how it has been run.

3. Advanced game plans

You don’t have to hear Peyton Manning shout out “Omaha!” dozens of times on a Sunday to know that game strategy has become incredibly complex. Teams need a digital sports playbook that can handle these complexities. Interactive diagrams can move the X’s and O’s on the screen to better demonstrate a play. Automatic push/pull of content can update playbooks whenever something is tweaked (and from game to game, something is always tweaked …). And statistics and video can accompany a play to track how it worked in previous games.

4. Security

Many sports teams, especially in professional football and in college football, are incredibly secretive about their game plans. Losing a sports playbook becomes a major hassle, if not a cause for utter panic. Tablets provide security that a printed playbook just can’t offer. A lost iPad can be remotely wiped; the digital playbook of a waived player can be removed while he is still in the GM’s office. And if the 2-year-old daughter of your quarterback spills juice on a tablet, uploading the playbook onto a new device is a simple process.

(And to answer the trivia from earlier, Bob Lacey led the A’s with a whopping 6 saves in 1980. He also had one of their 94 complete games …)

What trend do you think is most important to maintaining and innovating a sports playbook?