RIP The Chain Gang

Trey Daubert / NFL / July 31, 2024

RIP The Chain Gang

Soooooo it’s not officially official yet but it’s only a matter of time at this point. RIP the Chain Gang. The goofy part-time (get it?) NFL officials are about to become extinct. I’m sure they will still be there in spirit but in reality, their job no longer matters. Sony’s Hawk-Eye technology is coming to the NFL and having refs spot balls will soon be a thing of the past.

Adam Schefter of ESPN broke the story. In the post includes a lot of key quotes that will be shared below:

“We’re in the installation phase for all of our stadiums, really getting them calibrated and up to date,” said Brantley, the NFL’s senior vice president and chief information officer. “We’re just really getting to a place where this system is as accurate as possible and really calibrating across our multiple stadiums. … We have multiple stadiums with multiple dimensions inside of those stadiums with different age. So, we’re really just going through the installation of putting in the infrastructure and making sure these cameras are installed.”

“We’re reducing a significant amount of time, 40 seconds for each time of use that basically is making the game that much more impactful,” said Neal Manowitz, Sony president and chief operations officer. “And then also the system is accurate down to less than half an inch, which is incredibly, incredibly accurate. Hopefully the fans appreciate the objective view, or at least half the fans each play will be appreciating it.”