NFL a step closer to ditching ‘chain gang’ with preseason tech tests

The NFL may finally be moving into the 21st century when it comes to measuring first downs.

Long relying on the “chain gang” to determine whether a football has crossed the first-down marker, the NFL is going to test using the Hawk-Eye system used in tennis during some preseason games this year ahead of a possible full-scale move for the 2025 season.

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“We’re in the installation phase for all of our stadiums, really getting them calibrated and up to date,” Gary Brantley, the NFL’s senior vice president and chief information officer, told the Associated Press. “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.”

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New cameras will track the ball, players and on-field officials, who will be immediately notified after spotting the ball whether the line to gain was reached.

The hope is the Hawk-Eye system, owned by Sony, will result in more accurate and time-saving calls, as there won’t be a wait for officials to lug the chain out onto the field, measure and then run off.

“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,” Sony’s president and chief operations officer, Neal Manowitz, told the AP. “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.”

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