If you’re sick of watching your NFL bets hinge on the eyesight of middle-aged referees and marked by (typically more than middle-aged) chain gang members, there’s good news for you.
The league announced that NFL owners voted Tuesday to adopt Sony’s Hawk-Eye technology as the primary way to measure the line to gain.
Camera-based technology to measure lines of gain, inbounds or outbounds, and all sorts of in-game measurements has existed for years and has been widely used in soccer, tennis, golf, and other sports. However, the ordinarily tech-savvy NFL has abstained from embracing this technology for reasons known only to them.
However, after a highly controversial spot in the AFC Championship Game last year that could have altered the outcome, the issue was thrust back into the forefront, and the NFL decided to go high-tech.
In that game, Replays showed that Buffalo’s Josh Allen appeared to make the line-to-gain, but the ball was not visible. With the ruling on the field that Allen did not make the line-to-gain and no contravening evidence available from the cameras, the officials stuck with the ruling on the field, and Buffalo lost the game.
Would the Hawk-Eye system have prevented that from happening? Probably not.
The league would need to use technology to place a microchip in the ball that shows its exact placement. Other sports leagues have also embraced that technology. So, while the camera technology is a step in the right direction, it doesn’t address the specific play at issue in the Bills game.
“Sony’s Hawk-Eye virtual measurement technology will serve as an efficient alternative to the process of walking chains onto the field and manually measuring whether 10 yards have been met after the official has spotted the ball,” the NFL’s press release said. “The chain crew will remain on the field in a secondary capacity.”
Still, the Hawk-Eye system will likely lead to a quicker measurement than the chain gang could have accomplished, and the pace of play should be helped.
