SAPinsider Issue 3 2020

by Lauren Bonneau , Senior Editor, SAPinsider As sports facilities start to reopen after the COVID- 19 lockdown — evidenced by NASCAR racing resuming on May 16, 2020, and the NBA season resuming on July 30, 2020 — it looks like profes- sional sports and likely collegiate games will soon resume to some extent, albeit with social-distanc- ing rules in place and spectatorship not quite what it once was. This prospect is welcome news for holding company BRG Sports, parent company of Riddell , which designs, develops, and markets inno- vative sports equipment, smart helmet technology, team apparel, and accessories. Through the divestment of its baseball, softball, hockey, and action sports businesses in 2014, the organization revealed an effort to concentrate on football helmets, protective gear, and apparel. Its flagship brand, Riddell, is the namesake of John Tate Riddell, who invented the first plastic suspension football helmet in 1939. More than 80 years later, the helmet has advanced dramatically — today, it can be personalized to precisely fit the shape of an athlete’s head, and it can include sensors that store and analyze on-field impact data for coaching staff members and trainers to review in real time. Riddell’s InSite smart helmets , which are already in use by some National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football teams, are a step toward improving playing behavior and training by providing coaches and players with a deeper understanding of the head-impact landscape during practice and game competition. Additionally, a coach can monitor impacts from the sidelines during a game — receiv- ing a notification when a hit on a player exceeds certain acceptable parameters — and determine if that player needs to be taken out of the game and evaluated in accordance with concussion protocol. As the helmet evolves, Riddell’s focus on safety is paramount, and the narrowed focus on head protection has manifested success for the business. The 2020 Helmet Laboratory Testing Performance Results — which are released annually by the National Football League (NFL) and the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) and are based on helmet safety research conducted by independent testing organizations — announced Riddell helmets as the highest performing, meaning Riddell Adopts SaaS-Based Automation to Run Its Programs with Ease Leader in Football Automates and Coordinates Processes Across Multiple SAP Systems, Improves Scheduling, Eliminates Manual Effort, and Instills Ownership Through Self Service 7 SAPinsiderOnline.com