The NFL is a billion-dollar company, but in the 2024 season it will once again use an incredibly primitive system worth a handful of dollars to determine what is and isn’t a first down.
After preseason testing of its new automated first-down technology, which mimics the Hawk-Eye system in tennis, the NFL is putting the project on hold for the 2024 regular season. The technology, controlled at NFL headquarters in New York, was unveiled this month but sparked complaints live on air that it took far too long and slowed down the game. In this respect, it was reminiscent of the controversial use of VAR in football, which has frustrated fans for years.
Given the obvious obstacles, the NFL concluded that its first-down technology was not quite mature enough for prime time.
About the Washington Post:
The NFL will not use its electronic system for measuring first downs during the 2024 regular season, a person familiar with the league’s plans on the matter said Monday.
The league continued testing the system during the just-concluded preseason and left open the possibility of using it during the current regular season. Instead, the system will not be used in the regular season until 2025 at the earliest, according to the person familiar with the situation.
The sticks-and-chains system for measuring first downs is not being retired — at least not yet. The 10-yard chains will continue to be the primary means of determining first downs this season. They are also expected to remain on the sidelines as at least a backup system even when the electronic system for measuring first downs is used in the regular season.
Of course, the Chain Gang is not a perfect system for counting first downs. On the other hand, there are angry complaints that the NFL, despite its high revenue, cannot find a modern way to measure when a team gains ten yards from the line of scrimmage.
But for now, the convict column is the best we have. And instead of waiting for some digital image to appear on the screen, we’ll still get the drama of guys bringing a chain and two big sticks onto the field to measure whether or not a team made a first down. In some ways, that’s a beautiful process in itself. Maybe some things are just meant to be that way.
(Washington Post)
