National Football League Partnership
Supporting the NFL with technology,
and transforming the future of the sport.
The National Football League and Sony announced a partnership naming Sony as an official technology partner of the NFL as well as the new official headphones of the NFL. This includes an expansion of Sony's sports technology through Hawk-Eye Innovations to support officiating and the development of on-field and sideline technologies including a new coach's sideline headset that will debut in the 2025 season. Through this partnership, Sony and the NFL will be working collaboratively with coaches, players, teams, and leadership across the organization to transform the future of football.
Sony's Hawk-Eye Innovations Selected by the NFL to Revolutionize Line to Gain Measurements
Hawk-Eye, which will be deployed across all 30 NFL stadiums and the international venues hosting NFL games, consists of six 8K cameras for optical tracking of the position of the ball. The system is operated from the NFL’s Art McNally GameDay Central Officiating Center (AMGC) in New York and is integrated with the league’s existing replay system. As on-field officials are notified of the measurement outcome, virtual recreations of measurements are produced in real time for the in-stadium and broadcast audience.
Sony’s Hawk-Eye virtual measurement technology will serve as an efficient alternative to the process of walking chains onto the field and manually measuring whether 10 yards have been met after the official has spotted the ball. The full operational process takes around 30 seconds, saving up to 40 seconds from a measurement with the chains.
Sony is a technology partner of the NFL and has long provided the league with innovations that elevate the game and foster engagement for fans.
Sony's New NFL Coach's Headsets are Set to Debut on the Sidelines for 2025 Season
Introducing the all-new NFL Coach's Headset, designed by Sony and debuting for the 2025 season. Custom-engineered in close collaboration with the NFL and its coaches, these headsets are built to deliver crystal-clear sideline communication in the toughest game day conditions. Powered by Sony's decades of audio innovation and the same technology behind our industry-leading 1000X series, they're designed for peak clarity, reliability, and performance. As the official headset of the NFL, this launch marks the next chapter in our ongoing partnership to advance the game through technology.
Sony's extensive expertise in noise canceling played a key role in developing the custom solution built into these headsets. While tailored and tuned specifically for the sideline, the headset benefits from the same noise-canceling engineering trusted by millions of consumers worldwide in products like the 1000X series. Throughout the development phase, each unit was tested using real crowd noises in excess of 100 decibels to optimize the noise-canceling algorithm for in-stadium accuracy. The headsets also feature a custom-built microphone engineered specifically to isolate and elevate the coach's voice, ensuring consistent and clear communication on the field.
Technology Partner of the NFL
The NFL and Sony will work closely to develop this new headset supporting coach-to-coach communication on the field. Hawk-Eye's tracking services will be utilized to further enhance the accuracy of game-critical items like line-to-gain measurement. Additionally, Sony's Beyond Sports and its expertise in real-time visualization provides an opportunity to help engage the next generation of NFL fans.
Audio
Imaging
Professional Imaging
Hawk-Eye Innovations
Beyond Sports
