HACKER Q&A
📣 amichail

Can AI make American football comprehensible to non-Americans?


American football seems incomprehensible and hard to enjoy unless you have a deep knowledge of the sport. Maybe AI can help non-American viewers enjoy it?


  👤 jfengel Accepted Answer ✓
I feel the same way about non-American football. I find the sport dull because I don't know what's going on. It's hard to control the ball with just your feet, so it's constantly changing sides: to an untrained eye it looks as if they're just very good at it.

I like the stop-and-go aspect of American football. Between plays, they can go over replays. You can watch 22 players each fulfilling their separate tasks. For that, you don't need AI; you just need to listen to the commentators.

I think soccer fans like the continuous drama of a sport that does not stop. So, I think, do hockey fans, which has the same property. I think it's to hockey's advantage that there are only 6 players per side, so it's easier to track more of the action.

I'm sure somebody could build an AI to do the job of the commentators. The data exists, though access to it without the express written consent of the NFL would be problematic. Still, once you've done it, it would be even better to be able to interrogate the virtual commentators: "Why didn't they try this play? Why was this player in that position? Can you show me another team attempting the same play more successfully?"


👤 dave4420
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.

There are various other sports people in the rest of the world enjoy watching, without feeling that they’re missing out by not getting American football.


👤 pinewurst
It's not very comprehensible to non-fan Americans either. I've always thought of American football as chess between the coaches where the pieces don't necessarily obey orders.

👤 grajaganDev
AI can't do any worse that the current NFL announcers.

👤 maxwell
Where's the confusion...?

👤 giardini
What about cricket?

👤 Chihuahua0633
Maybe.