A History of How Tech Has Made Watching Sports Better

Image via Complex Original

Sport: All sports
Year Introduced: 1939

Slo-Mo photography and videography have existed longer than most of us were born, with one of its first usages in sports broadcasting coming during the 1939 European Heavyweight boxing title bout between Max Schmeling and Adolf Heuser. Like all good things, though, the effect has only gotten better with age as advancements in video technology and high-speed cameras have allowed us to see the most minute details of any game over a greater stretch of time. When you're able to watch something like a slam dunk, or a home run in slow motion, you really begin to understand just how incredible some of these feats are. Just check out these highlights, and slowly, very slowly, be amazed.

Sport: All sports
Year Introduced: 1962

One of the more underrated aspects of any live telecast is the in-game chatter that floods in with through our sound systems amidst all the static coming from the crowd. Hearing Peyton Manning call out an audible or Ray Lewis make adjustments to the defense adds unexpected textures to the game, and enriches the fan experience in subtle ways. No one was more prescient of the power of this effect than NFL Films founder Ed Sabol. Back in 1962, the legendary filmmaker struck a deal with the league to film the NFL Championship game between the Packers and the Giants. Since then, NFL Films has been on the sideline of all of the league's most important moments, with a rich archive of visuals and soundbytes showcasing the history of the league. This collection from the past season is a perfect example. The technology is regularly used in most other major sports leagues, but NFL Films has always stood above the rest as the innovation's primary adopter.

Sport: All sports
Year Introduced: 1963

Few things are more frustrating for a fan than a bad call by the officials, and for a long time, spectators were forced to just live and die by the decisions of the men in stripes, no matter how erroneous. This became especially disappointing when instant replay was added into the equation. While fans had the luxury of seeing a play a second or third time, the men on the field only had one look at it. Now, we could finally see how badly they'd missed a call. Over and over again too! Luckily, the NFL committed itself to getting things right in 1986 when they rolled out their first iteration of official replay. Sure, it may never be perfect, but it's darn close. Other sports leagues have been less quick to allow its usage on the field or court, but every organization utilizes it during TV broadcasts, helping to enrich the overall producation as well as our viewing experience.

Sport: All sports
Year Introduced: 1992

What is ESPNews, other than an endless stream of highlights and storylines? Honestly, it's a little baffling that this infinite thread of Top 10 Plays and recaps has managed to stay on the air for so many years when it doesn't really appear to be doing very much in the way of actual news. Regardless, the backbone of its success has always been the BottomLine, the 24-hour sports ticker that displays game info, sports scores, roster updates and more so that viewers can stay up-to-the-minute with their information. If you're looking to trace back the origins of today's 24/7 sports media cycle, at some point, you'll come upon the BottomLine. Before that, though, there was the HLN SportsTicker, an earlier iteration of the news service that was debuted by CNN in 1992. Believe it or not (remember, the Internet wasn't around yet), before the SportsTicker was first used, your best way to get sports scores and updates from across the country was to read the newspaper the next morning. Honestly, I can't even process the idea of that. I...I just feel terrible for those poor people.

Sport: All sports
Year Introduced: 1996

The one person who always comes to mind when I think about HDTV is my dad, because, back when he first shelled out the cash to buy an HDTV, he couldn't stop raving about how great it was compared to the old, standard definition models. Basically, he turned into this guy. Just look at it, y'know? Honestly, though, when you compare the two, HDTV is a considerable upgrade and well worth the cost, sanding away at the rougher edges of its grainier counterparts pixel-by-pixel. Again, if you need a second opinion, just talk to my dad. I'm pretty sure he hasn't stopped talking about it.

Sport: All sports
Year Introduced: Late-'90s

Before HDTV or LCD or projection TVs could do anything to us, we first had to get a bigger screen. I mean, can you imagine still having to watch something on a set like this? At that point, you may as well just be listening to the game on the radio. But as LCD, plasma, and DLP displays began to develop in the late-'90s, we suddenly found ourselves at a new frontier of visual wealth. Previously, if you wanted a bigger screen, that meant you also had to have a bulkier, boxier frame for it. Now, though, as our understanding of flat-screen technologies has advanced, we've been given slimmer and more portable options that are clearer to boot. What more could you ask for?

Sport: Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, Soccer
Year Introduced: 1998

Though fantasy sports have been around since the 1960s, their popularity didn't truly take off until the ease of Internet allowed for more efficient, streamlined leagues to take shape. In 1998, Rotonews.com (now known as RotoWire) launched the first Web commissioning service, allowing sports and stats geeks to take their teams off the pen and pad, and onto an easier-to-navigate computer database. Transactions, draft picks, point totalling and more could now all be done in mere seconds. The hobby became more of a mainstream trend in 2002, with studies conducted by the NFL revealing that fantasy players watched football nearly two hours more every Sunday than the average, male fan. Given a fantasy player's added investment to scores and stats, the discrepancy makes sense. The pastime became a billion dollar industry in 2003, and has never looked back since.

Sport: Football
Year Introduced: 1998

It's actually kind of hard to imagine watching football on TV without the reliable, yellow first down marker, but amazingly, it was only made popular in 1998 when ESPN revived the idea after it had been shelved by television executives at CBS and ABC 20 years earlier. Now, though, the addition has become nearly essential for football fans, giving us all a quick and accurate projection of just how far our team needs to go to get that new set of downs.

Sport: All sports
Year Introduced: 1999

DVR has been something of a godsend for viewers all over the airwaves, and its usage for sports-lovers has been no less monumental. Want to watch Wimbledon without having to wake up at 6am? DVR it! What do you do if you're stuck in church for the first hour or two of the game? DVR it! You get the picture. And not only does it allow us to record anything we missed, we can also use the technology to rewind and replay any great plays that we want to see again. It's one of those things that once you have it, you wonder how you ever lived without it at all.

Sport: Baseball
Year Introduced: 2001

Sitting from our couch, it can often feel like we have the ultimate camera angle when it comes to watching sports, but sometimes that perspective can be deceiving. This is especially true in baseball, where our viewpoint is largely centered around the pitcher in relation to the batter. This angle is problematic because we aren't seeing it from the umpire's point of view, and, whether we like it or not, he's the man in charge of making the calls. Thankfully, stations like Fox, ESPN, and TBS have helped to bridge this gap by using pitch tracking technology to accurately show where the ump saw a pitch land in a batter's strike zone. Beyond simply showing us balls and strikes, though, the system is also useful for showing how pitchers will attack certain batters, giving us yet another aspect of the game to dissect and enjoy.

Sport: All sports
Year Introduced: Mid-2000s

For those of us without a TV, watching sports can sometimes be more trouble than it's worth. Going to a sports bar can be fine every once in awhile, but is it really that great to be watching the game with a roomful of drunk, screaming, and probably obnoxious spectators? We didn't think so. That's why online streaming services are such a great option for those of us who don't have the dough to shell out for that new plasma screen TV. Their legality is somewhat suspect, to say the least, but that doesn't mean that they aren't a very real option for viewers out there. Besides, if I'm sitting at my house in rural Iowa and I want to watch a cricket match in India, how else am I supposed to check it out? Pretty sure I don't see it in my TV Guide.

Sport: Tennis
Year Introduced: 2006

Though Hawk-Eye was initially met with some resistance by current and former players, its been hard to argue with the results of the much-needed ball tracking overseer since it was instituted in 2006. Originally, it was strictly intended for television purposes, but after criticism of shaky officiating began to hound the USTA in the mid-2000s, the governing body decided to allow players to use it as well. In the interest of fairness, it's always commendable when the men and women in charge of this sort of thing do their best to make sure judges are making the right calls. Viewers at home should never have to feel like their favorite player got robbed, and it's innovations like Hawk-Eye that help to prevent that from happening.

Sport: All sports
Year Introduced: 2007

Gambling is one of the surest ways to increase a person's interest in any given event. It doesn't matter if it's the Super Bowl or the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest; if you have a little bit of action riding on the outcome, then you'll have no trouble getting into it. However, gambling is also an expensive, potentially addictive, and mostly illegal habit. Enter Centsports: a penny-stakes gambling platform that bankrolled users with money from advertisers to create a legal, and fairly harmless, betting environment. Started in 2007, the website has since been acquired by the larger Freesportsbet.com, but its original intent lives on, allowing members to gamble guilt-free on a regular basis. Sure, bettting in any form is still a little bit dangerous, but how else are you supposed to make a game between the Houston Astros and the Miami Marlins interesting?

Sport: All sports
Year Introduced: 2008

Tablets and smart phones like the iPad or the Samsung Galaxy have big, beautiful screens that demand to be used, and luckily, major sports leagues have started to take notice, offering real-time streaming apps for a variety of big-time sporting events like the U.S. Open, the Masters, and March Madness. MLB even offers a season-long package so that you can watch all your favorite team's games without having to worry about blackouts or not being able to find it on TV. It's fan-friendly, and business savvy. After all, why would the NFL let online pirates monopolize live-streaming when they could just do it themselves?

Sport: Football
Year Introduced: 2012

In 2009, the NFL Network launched a new channel that changed the viewing habits of many Sunday faithful. Referred to as "RedZone", the service is essentially a highlight stream, tuning into games where teams are in scoring position, and replaying any and all touchdowns and field goals for every fan's viewing pleasure. You could almost say that it's like SportsCenter on steroids. Reviews have been somewhat mixed, but, for the most part, fans have enjoyed the ability to easily keep tabs on what's happening around the league. In fact, its been such a hit with viewers that some teams have begun to take notice. In an effort to fill empty seats, the Jacksonville Jaguars revealed this offseason that they've been considering the idea of playing the RedZone channel on their JumboTrons so that attending fans don't feel like they're missing out on any action that they could easily be watching at home. Plus, when your team has been as unspectacular as the Jags have been recently, you'll take any extra entertainment you can get.