Footwear systems include an article of footwear and a data transmission
system engaged with the article of footwear. The transmission system
transmits data to a remote system, such as a display system, another data
transmission system, a processing system, etc. Such footwear systems
further may include activation systems for activating the transmission
and/or display systems. The transmitted data may be used for various
purposes, such as: (a) identifying a user of the article of footwear; (b)
activating targeted advertising or product information; (c) confirming
the user's presence at a specific location and/or at a specific time; (d)
determining start, finish, and/or intermediate split times for specific
user; (e) confirming athletic equipment usage; (f) providing data for a
game or reward program; (g) registering the user for an event or
competition; or the like.