The NFL wants Alexa to be your playoff watching companion
Just in time for the start of the playoffs, the NFL has released a new skill for Amazon Alexa devices. “A Rookie’s Guide to the NFL” will guide fans and folks who are new to the game through the 2019 postseason, with information about teams, rules, positions, players, equipment, formations and more. The skill is the NFL’s first venture into apps with voice-enabled features and is available through the Alexa Skills Store starting today.
To use the Rookie’s Guide to the NFL, you’ll have to download and enable the skill through your Alexa app. That will make it available through any of your Alexa devices. Once installed, you’ll be able to ask Alexa football-specific questions as you watch the playoffs unfold. Ask things like “Who is Lamar Jackson?” or “How tall is Rob Gronkowski?” and Alexa will have the answers on hand.
The skill should also prove handy when specific jargon that will come up during a broadcast. Not sure what the pistol formation looks like or what the nickel back is? The NFL’s new app has the answer. In total, the skill has access to more than 1,000 terms and pieces of trivia. (It probably won’t have much to say if a player suffers a concussion, though.)
In addition to answering all of your questions, the Rookie’s Guide to the NFL skill also has a podcast baked into it. The five-minute broadcast called “Game Plan” provides previews before big matchups as well as insight and audio relevant to the games ahead. It’s more in line with the NFL’s previous Alexa offering, NFL in :60, that provides a flash briefing of all the top headlines around the league in 60 seconds. Alexa has also had the ability to provide scores to NFL games without the need of an additional skill.
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