The Patriots and the Rams won’t be the only teams competing in Atlanta this week.
Hosted by Georgia Tech and sponsored by the NFL and Arrow Electronics (NYSE-ARW), 1st and Future (http://www.nfl.com/1standfuture) is the NFL’s Annual Super Bowl Competition designed to spur innovation in player health, safety and performance. The event will take place at Georgia Tech’s Ferst Center for the Arts in Atlanta, Georgia on February 2, 2019, the day before Super Bowl LIII. The NFL Network will livestream the full competition at http://www.nfl.com/1standfuture/live.
This year's event will feature two categories of competition: the NFL Punt Analytics Competition, featuring data-driven proposals for rule changes designed to reduce player injury during punt plays, and the Innovations to Advance Athlete Health and Safety Competition highlighting innovative product concepts that aim to improve player health and safety. Finalists will compete for over $100,000 in cash prizes and Super Bowl tickets; with a grand prize of $50,000 dollars to the top team.
Recently, the NFL and Arrow Electronics announced the finalists and the judges, including Georgia Tech’s very own Keith Werle, Managing Director of the Business Analytics Center at Scheller College of Business. He joins an esteemed panel of coaches, physicians, and technology executives, including:
- Geoff Collins, Head Coach, Georgia Tech Football
- Leigh Ann Curl, MD Head Team Orthopedic Surgeon, Baltimore Ravens, and President, NFL Physicians Society
- Sarath Degala, Vice President, BIP Capital
- Victor Gao, Chief Marketing Officer, Arrow Electronics, Inc.
- Dan Quinn, Head Coach, Atlanta Falcons
- Allison Sabia, Vice President and General Manager, Digital, Arrow Electronics, Inc.
- Shawn Springs, CEO, Windpact and Former 1st and Future Winner
- Keith Werle, Managing Director, Business Analytics Center at Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business
“It is quite an honor to be asked to help out with this years’ competition. Past years have been a spectacular success and I am very excited to participate,” said Werle.
During the program, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Atlanta Falcons President and CEO, and NFL Competition Committee Chairman Rich McKay will participate in a panel discussion on leveraging the latest technology to modernize the game. Scott Hanson, host of NFL RedZone on the NFL Network, will moderate and be the MC for the competitions.
Georgia Tech’s Advanced Technology Development Center will serve as a home base for the competing finalists during the week prior to the 1st and Future competition.
For more information on 1st and Future, visit http://www.nfl.com/1standfuture.
About the NFL’s Health and Safety Initiatives
The NFL is committed to advancing progress in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of sports-related injuries. As part of the NFL’s ongoing health and safety efforts, in September 2016, Commissioner Goodell launched Play Smart. Play Safe. — a league-wide health and safety initiative. At the heart of the initiative is a pledge of $100 million in support for independent medical research and engineering advancements and a commitment to look at anything and everything to protect our players and make our game safer, including enhancements to medical protocols and improvements to how our game is taught and played. For more information about the NFL’s health and safety efforts, please visit www.PlaySmartPlaySafe.com.
About Arrow Electronics
Arrow Electronics guides innovation forward for over 150,000 of the world’s leading manufacturers of technology used in homes, business and daily life. With 2017 sales of $26.6 billion, Arrow aggregates electronics and enterprise computing solutions for customers and suppliers in industrial and commercial markets. The company maintains a network of more than 345 locations serving over 80 countries. Learn more at FiveYearsOut.com.
About the Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology, also known as Georgia Tech, is one of the nation’s leading research universities. Georgia Tech provides a focused, technologically based education to more than 32,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Georgia Tech has many nationally recognized programs, top-ranked by peers and publications alike, and is ranked in the nation’s top 10 public universities by U.S. News and World Report. As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech has more than 100 centers focused on interdisciplinary research that consistently contribute vital research and innovation to American government, industry, and business.
About the Advanced Technology Development Center
The Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), a program of the Georgia Institute of Technology, is the state of Georgia’s technology start-up incubator. Founded in 1980 by the Georgia General Assembly which funds it each year, ATDC’s mission is to work with entrepreneurs in Georgia to help them learn, launch, scale, and succeed in the creation of viable, disruptive technology companies. Since its founding, ATDC has grown to become one of the longest running and most successful university-affiliated incubators in the United States, with its graduate start-up companies raising $3 billion in investment financing and generating more than $12 billion in revenue in the state of Georgia. Learn more at visit atdc.org.
About the Business Analytics Center at Scheller College of Business
The Business Analytics Center serves as a platform for business analytics efforts, bringing together organizations, analytics thought leaders, talented students, and a world-class, interdisciplinary faculty at Georgia Tech to educate and exchange best practices for applying analytics to solve business problems.