Pivotal decisions in a billion-dollar professional sports league will no longer come down to people on the sidelines holding a pair of sticks held by a chain.
Well, for the most part.
On Wednesday, the NFL announced that it will be using a virtual measuring system to determine whether a player gained a first down in 2025. The system would alert officials on the field immediately if a player advanced the ball enough for a first down.
To be clear, this would not eliminate the chain crew entirely. That group will remain in place as a backup to the virtual system.
NFL senior VP of football operations Kimberly Fields told the Associated Press that the league used the virtual technology “in the background” in 2024 before implementing it across the league this year.
“The goal for 2025 is to continue to train our techs, who are the ones who will be utilizing the technology, finalizing all of our officiating processes and procedures around virtual measurements and testing the graphics for the broadcast and in-stadium, so fans in the stadium and fans watching on television can see what we’re doing,” Fields said to the AP.
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