As the digital revolution creeps closer and closer to the playing field, Major League Baseball has broken down the wall between technology and the bench.
Fittingly, the sledgehammer that broke the wall was a corporate sponsor.
MLB has announced a partnership with Apple to provide iPads in dugouts and bullpens, starting this season. (Which, by the way, begins next week. Didn't the World Series just end like, last Wednesday?)
Apple has supplied every home and away bullpen and dugout with a proprietary app that "gives everyone involved in the game a chance to analyze in-game decisions by viewing rich data including in-depth statistics and video."
The NFL has a similar deal in place with Microsoft to use its Surface tablets to the tune of $80 million a year -- though that hasn't stopped many broadcasters from calling them iPads.
The question now becomes: when will college football allow tablets on sidelines?
Earlier this month the NCAA announced tablets and other electronic devices are now allowed in the coaches box and locker room, but not the sideline.
Tablets are coming to college football sidelines, sooner rather than later. Perhaps all it takes is the right sponsor.