Scouting is one of the most important objectives for teams.  Both in college and professional sports, teams will watch video tape of their upcoming opponents to learn each player's strengths and weaknesses.  Moreover, teams also watch videotapes to learn about possible future players.  The technology of video recording facilitates the process of scouting.

    Weeks before a team plays an opponent, coaches begin to prepare.  They begin to look at videotape of previous games and examine the weakness of their opponent.  As a result, the coaches can come up with a game plan of how to attack their opponents in order to exploit their weaknesses.  Without being able to watch video of the opposition, the only alternative would be to go and see every game in person.  This process would require a large amount of driving or even flying.  While these things are still done to an extent, the majority of scouting is performed by watching video.  Another benefit to a videotape is that you can rewind it.  A specific play the coach would like to examine in detail can be played over and over again.  Many people argue that this technology for scouting teams eliminates that need for players and coaches to adjust during the game, which should be a major part of sports.  However, supporters of the technology respond that, with both teams knowing the other's playing style, the game will be more competitive.

    Video also helps in recruiting.  Many players in small universities around the country would go unnoticed by the NFL, the NBA, and MLB; thus, they would not have a shot at being drafted.  For instance, when Wayne Chrebet was finished playing his four years at Hofstra, no teams were interested in him.  However, his coach and his mom made a video tape of all of Wayne's highlights and sent it to every NFL team.  Chrebet got drafted by the New York Jets and now is a starter and a key player in the offense.  Just a simple video gave the Jets a reason to take a chance on him and draft him.  Many other players who would go unnoticed, have been drafted by a professional sports team solely because of a single video tape.  Video also keeps coaches from having to travel to every school in the country, which would be virtually impossible.  Instead, a coach can examine a video tape of a player in order to decide whether or not that player should be brought in for a tryout.  One consequence of video tape scouting has been that, more and more, high school athletes are attending schools outside the part of the country that they live in since coaches from around the country are getting a chance to see them play; thus, video tape scouting has increased the diversity within college campuses.