Microsoft renews Surface NFL Deal for another year

[AlTech]

Microsoft has renewed the deal with the NFL to provide Surface devices to the NFL and be an official partner.

 

The original deal was from 2013-2018 and now it has been extended to the end of the 2018/2019 season.

 

The price for this renewal of the deal has not been disclosed. The original 2013 deal cost roughly $400 Million USD.

 

Here's what Microsoft had to say:

Quote

We're excited to help the NFL change the game with Surface devices being used by players and coaches on the sidelines to make more informed decisions, referees using Surface for instant replay to enhance the speed of the game, and teams using Microsoft products in their business and football operations. We look forward to continuing the partnership next season.

 

So yeah, hopefully more interesting NFL branded products get made because of this.

 

The 2013 deal resulted in Surface NFL typecovers and later custom NFL team design Xbox One Wireless Controllers.

 

Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-renews-surface-deal-nfl-another-year

 

Edited December 6, 2017 by AluminiumTech
Fixed typo

[Sakkura]

At least the announcers have stopped calling them iPads. Guess that's good enough for Microsoft.

[Trixanity]

I wonder why. Wasn't there widespread problems with the devices? Which begs the question why renew and why was it so hard to make it work properly.

[Matu20]

2 hours ago, Sakkura said:

At least the announcers have stopped calling them iPads. Guess that's good enough for Microsoft.

Thats the only thing I ever knew about this, that they were called iPads

[dalekphalm]

3 hours ago, Trixanity said:

I wonder why. Wasn't there widespread problems with the devices? Which begs the question why renew and why was it so hard to make it work properly.

I haven't heard about any technical issues with the NFL devices. I suspect old dudes who keep calling it an "iPad" are the problem

[captain_to_fire]

Just now, dalekphalm said:

I haven't heard about any technical issues with the NFL devices. I suspect old dudes who keep calling it an "iPad" are the problem

The poor Surface tablets are being used to release anger https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/2/13139174/bill-belichick-patriots-microsoft-surface

[Trixanity]

Just now, dalekphalm said:

I haven't heard about any technical issues with the NFL devices. I suspect old dudes who keep calling it an "iPad" are the problem

A Google search provided a lot of links. This is one of them.

It seems like it's a mixed bag with lots inconsistencies.

[dalekphalm]

4 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

A Google search provided a lot of links. This is one of them.

It seems like it's a mixed bag with lots inconsistencies.

Interesting. The article goes into no depth as to what actually keeps happening. Just that it "malfunctions".

 

If I were to guess, I'd assume either buggy App, or user error. The surfaces themselves are pretty reliable units, hardware wise, so I'd be really surprised if they physically were failing.

[AlTech]

1 minute ago, dalekphalm said:

Interesting. The article goes into no depth as to what actually keeps happening. Just that it "malfunctions".

 

If I were to guess, I'd assume either buggy App, or user error. The surfaces themselves are pretty reliable units, hardware wise, so I'd be really surprised if they physically were failing.

Recently I've been noticing issues on mine so I'm not ruling out hardware as a problem yet.

[dalekphalm]

Just now, AluminiumTech said:

Recently I've been noticing issues on mine so I'm not ruling out hardware as a problem yet.

What kind of issues? Literally every device ever manufactured had occasional units with issues. That's not conclusive one way or the other of a wider issue.

[Trixanity]

5 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Interesting. The article goes into no depth as to what actually keeps happening. Just that it "malfunctions".

 

If I were to guess, I'd assume either buggy App, or user error. The surfaces themselves are pretty reliable units, hardware wise, so I'd be really surprised if they physically were failing.

Here, here and here

[LAwLz]

16 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

A Google search provided a lot of links. This is one of them.

It seems like it's a mixed bag with lots inconsistencies.

Something from the article that stuck out:

Quote

The issue is one of network stability in the various stadiums, which we have little control over.

 

I would like to add that the Surface line have notoriously bad WiFi connectivity.

If it was wireless networking issues plaguing the device, then I would not be surprised if the Surface itself was at least partially to blame.

How many updates did Microsoft push out specifically to fix the terrible WiFi on the Surface 3? Like 6 or 7? A quick Google search and I found this, which mirrors the frustration we've had with one customer.

 

 

3 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

Here, here and here

I got a feeling someone will point to the first article and say "it might just be user errors!". While it might be true that some issues are related to the users, it still shows Microsoft's Surface line is significantly less reliable than some other brands which should on average have the same share of PEBKAC errors percentage wise.

[Trixanity]

3 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

Something from the article that stuck out:

 

I would like to add that the Surface line have notoriously bad WiFi connectivity.

If it was wireless networking issues plaguing the device, then I would not be surprised if the Surface itself was at least partially to blame.

How many updates did Microsoft push out specifically to fix the terrible WiFi on the Surface 3? Like 6 or 7? A quick Google search and I found this, which mirrors the frustration we've had with one customer.

Well, you'd think Marvell have Panos Panay by the balls or something considering they refuse to switch from their awful implementation despite it being labeled awful every year for multiple years in a row. Microsoft at the very least agreed to buy a fuckton of them and they have them sitting around and being forced to use them for something.

 

You'd also think given their relationship with Intel and their collaboration that they could come to a decent agreement on buying Intel Wifi solutions instead.

 

Oh well. Not my problem. And yes, I do agree that Wifi is a likely culprit if we exclude the various other issues  that have been popping up every once in a while. Then again: why do they need wifi to do tactical stuff on a tablet? It seems like you could do it all locally to my ears unless it needs to grab updated data during the game. However you'd be able to key in any new stuff the same way you'd do it on a clipboard.

 

It makes no God damn sense.

[Eduard the weeb]

I think it would be funny if they give them the ones with the 1060's and some off them play ex cs will they are play a NFL game but it is not likely to happen.

[vetali]

4 hours ago, Trixanity said:

I wonder why. Wasn't there widespread problems with the devices? Which begs the question why renew and why was it so hard to make it work properly.

Because they're trying to use wireless in a stadium with 50,000 + wireless devices. Plus each team (and now officiating) has their own secure network to stream footage from NFL servers. This isn't your typical broadcast footage either, consisting of multiple camera angles where you can scrub back and forth in high framerate footage. When theres a problem, the entire tablet system is taken down for both teams until resolved by a separate set of "surface officials".

[Trixanity]

2 minutes ago, vetali said:

Because they're trying to use wireless in a stadium with 50,000 + wireless devices. Plus each team (and now officiating) has their own secure network to stream footage from NFL servers. This isn't your typical broadcast footage either, consisting of multiple camera angles where you can scrub back and forth in high framerate footage. When theres a problem, the entire tablet system is taken down for both teams until resolved by a separate set of "surface officials".

Yeah and that's dumb as hell. That's like using your device on a 2.4 Ghz network while standing besides a running microwave oven and a vacuum cleaner whilst doing mission-critical stuff and wondering why your connection cuts out.

 

It's essentially adding multiple points of failure on a system you rely on.

[AlTech]

1 hour ago, Eduard the weeb said:

I think it would be funny if they give them the ones with the 1060's and some off them play ex cs will they are play a NFL game but it is not likely to happen.

Typically they've been given the Surface Pro series products because they need tablets

 

Although I'm fairly sure i7 Dual Core + Iris 640 would still be supremely overkill for what they need.

 

It's a shame MS refuses to make another cheap Surface Non Pro device.

[AlTech]

@Eduard the weeb my bad. Look at the edit. I meant tablets and not laptops. Hence why a SB would be inappropriate.

[Eduard the weeb]

40 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

@Eduard the weeb my bad. Look at the edit. I meant tablets and not laptops. Hence why a SB would be inappropriate.

ok cool.

[Shadestones]

8 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

I haven't heard about any technical issues with the NFL devices. I suspect old dudes who keep calling it an "iPad" are the problem

I imagine it induces the same level of anger as "Kleenex" becoming synonymous with a tissue box, even though they're really just a brand.