The story of Super Bowl 51 should have been all about one of the most
remarkable comebacks in football history. The New England Patriots were
trailing by 16 points with 8 minutes left in the fourth quarter. They managed
to rally home to take the game to overtime and eventually the championship.
Tom Brady received his 5th super bowl ring however, he
didn’t leave the game with his jersey that he wore. The jersey was reportedly
stolen and this turned the NFL world upside down.
"Someone
stole my game jersey," Brady whispered to Patriots owner Robert Kraft
during the team's locker room celebrations. "Are you serious? You better
look online," Kraft replied with a nervous smile on his face.
For
the past 15 years, the NFL has worked with PSA/DNA, an authentication service that uses
invisible ink to certify items such as helmets, footballs, baseballs, cards and
autographs.
PROVA,
a startup founded by Dallas Cowboys legend Emmitt Smith (himself a three-time Super
Bowl champion), has created stamp-sized NFC chips that can track when an item is
worn or used in-game. PROVA's smart tags can identify stolen goods too, making
it harder for any NFL-owned property to be illegally sold at auction or online.
Haroon
Alvi, PROVA's president and CEO, says his company's NFC-powered tags are better
than invisible ink because they won't wear out during the season, which is
apparently a common problem with the method used by firms like PSA/DNA. Down
the road, Alvi says he hopes to bring these NFC chips to more sports and other
industries. One day, he says, PROVA could offer its tech to luxury goods
manufacturers, which may help them add another line of protection against counterfeits.
- Andrew
Comments
Post a Comment