The NFL will now officially conduct a public test of the Hawk-Eye technology in the preseason to eventually replace the outdated Chain Gang, an NFL official confirmed.
NFL official Gary Brantley told the Associated Press that the league will test Hawk-Eye during some preseason games. He also said that a regular rollout of the system would probably not follow until the 2025 season, but left the door open for an earlier rollout.
“We’re in the installation phase in all the stadiums and we’re really getting them calibrated and up to speed,” said Brantley, who serves as the NFL’s senior vice president and chief information officer. “We’re just getting to a point where the system is as accurate as possible and calibrating it in all of our many stadiums. We have numerous stadiums and different dimensions within the stadiums, and different ages as well. So we’re really just getting the installation done and making sure those cameras are installed.”
The technology partner for this venture will be Sony, which recently signed a new contract with the NFL. Among other things, Sony will also supply new headsets for coaches starting in the 2025 season.
New technology partner for NFL
Sony will also supply Hawk-Eye equipment that will track players, officials and the ball at all times. The system, which is already known in a similar form from the UFL spring league, will immediately inform the referee of a first down – similar to how Hawk-Eye’s goal-line technology does in football when the ball crosses the goal line.
According to Brantley, this technology is intended to reduce the time it takes to determine whether a play resulted in a new first down or not. There is talk of 40 seconds being saved per play.
The downside to this system, however, is that the referees still decide where the ball is placed. Hawk-Eye simply measures the position of the ball after it has been placed by the referee.
Source: www.sport.de
