The NFL continues searching for ways to improve the stadium experience for fans while watching football at home becomes better and better. The next step? Look to the microphone.
The Wall Street Journal reported recently that owners have given permission for microphones to be placed on certain players so that fans can listen in via an in-stadium phone application that will distribute the raw feeds. We've heard plenty of players miked via broadcast television, but never at the stadium.
We have also never heard a player miked unedited and uninterrupted. Talk in the huddle isn't always kid-friendly, so it's possible the league might come up with a way to edit or monitor what is said on the feeds before little Ricky learns a few new words to describe an opposing linebacker.
Even more interesting -- the possibility of listening to referees discuss controversial calls. For now, that option is a "long way off," according to what NFL executive vice president of ventures and business operations Eric Grubman told the Journal.
"You have to be able to make the game open, you have to give explanations, you have to give information," Grubman said.
We are spoiled football fans at this point and we love it. We have more information, and more tools to learn about the game, than ever before. There is no going back.
