New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton’s comments regarding the NFL’s sideline replay technology, or lack thereof, drew mild attention this week amid the news that the Oakland Raiders would become the first NFL team to call Las Vegas home. Payton touched on the idea of adding widely used video technology to determine if players step out of bounds during NFL games.
At the recently concluded NFL owners meetings, Payton noted American tennis legend John McEnroe’s wild antics when disputing line calls during his playing days. Payton used the example of how tennis long ago fixed the issue that famously bothered McEnroe to highlight how the NFL could implement in-or-out of bounds replay technology after his team lost a game that featured a controversial sideline ruling.
“My beef was the fact that it’s 2017 – you go to any tennis tournament in the world and you can tell if the ball was in or out – we ought to be able to know if a foot was on the sideline or not in 2017,” Payton told reporters during his media availability at the owners meeting. “But we didn’t put cameras in the sidelines and there we were in a game where we needed one.”
Payton’s Saints lost a close game to the Denver Broncos last season after a somewhat obvious out of bounds call was unable to be overturned. A Broncos player seemed to step on the sideline while returning a blocked extra point, which would mean the play would not have resulted in a two-point Broncos score that led indirectly to their win.
Professional tennis had a long-standing problem with close line calls in the extremely fast-paced game. But things began to change in 2001 when Hawk-Eye instant replay technology was born. Hawk-Eye’s state-of-the-art, line judge-style replay technology was quickly adopted by tennis broadcasters to help enhance television coverage. The replay system was later approved by the Association of Tennis Professionals and made its ATP tour debut in 2006.
Since then, the strategically placed high-speed cameras that track and collect data in real-time on every shot have become staples in professional tennis. Hawk-Eye data is sent to computers that recreate the ball’s path and pinpoint its landing spot, with a 3.6-millimeter margin of error. Players are able to challenge in or out calls, with extremely reliable computerized results, in a matter of seconds.
“I don’t know how his (McEnroe) shtick would’ve worked today but the technology in tennis is pretty amazing where hey, there it is,” Payton said. “I’m not suggesting that same technology for football, but surely we can know when a player is in or out of bounds.”
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Microscopic sideline calls are extremely hard for NFL referees to make in the moment. Payton even pointed out that players’ shoes can blend in with the white sidelines, making calls even more difficult. The NFL’s Senior Vice President of Officiating Dean Blandino acknowledged that these sideline calls are extremely hard to determine even through replay since there are no cameras facing directly down the sidelines.
#DENvsNO defensive two point conversion further explained. pic.twitter.com/w3SHA5CJko
— Dean Blandino (@DeanBlandino) November 14, 2016
The NFL introduced its small pylon cameras in 2015 on a trial basis, and they are now used throughout the league. But those cameras do not really help for sideline rulings, which can’t even be overturned once a referee blows the play dead.
Shortly after the Saints controversial sideline out of bounds ruling, Houston Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins was ruled out of bounds on a close call while on his way for what was sure to be a touchdown.
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has lobbied the NFL to implement fixed cameras on the sidelines, goal lines and end lines of every NFL stadium to help make calls more consistent. But those cameras are still not in place, and some owners pointed to cost as the reason.
According to Bloomberg, NFL teams shared roughly $7.1 billion in revenue for the 2016 season.
Hawk-Eye camera replay technology is currently used in many high-level sporting competitions throughout the world. FIFA, the English Premier League and the German Bundesliga all use Hawk-Eye to confirm goals with the use of its goal line technology.
The NFL owners did vote to centralize replay reviews this past week. The new rule means that the final say on replay reviews and challenges belongs to Blandino and his team at the NFL’s New York replay center. Still, without new technology or sideline cameras in place, out of bounds calls will be as hard as ever to determine.