Does first down go digital?

[MightyGiants]

https://x.com/mysportsupdate/status/1793056463851598265?s=61&t=RhLqKLKssFU2uI0Nr0nfxQ

[President Rick]

now if baseball balls and strikes were only done that way.....

[DaveBrown74]

I wouldn't have an issue with this, provided it's definitely more accurate than human calls. I don't see a good argument for why sports should not use technology to make officiating more accurate. Why allow for human error when you don't have to? Tennis is way better now that they have the technological arbiter on close calls. What is worse than a team losing a game because of a wrong call that could have been avoided with the use of available technology?

[Rosehill Jimmy]

I'm guessing it still doesn't account for the correct spot

[MightyGiants]

I'm guessing it still doesn't account for the correct spot

That's what I am thinking, the official still needs to spot the ball.   I can't think of a current technology that could determine where the ball is when the runner is down.   The location of the ball is easy, it's their down part that is the challenge.

[T200]

That's what I am thinking, the official still needs to spot the ball.   I can't think of a current technology that could determine where the ball is when the runner is down.   The location of the ball is easy, it's their down part that is the challenge.

Put a chip in the ball and sensors on, around, or above the field.

[MightyGiants]

Put a chip in the ball and sensors on, around, or above the field.

When will the sensor know when a runner's knee or other body part (other than feet or hands) touch the ground?

[T200]

When will the sensor know when a runner's knee or other body part (other than feet or hands) touch the ground?

They won't. But just as they use different camera angles, they can use the video to determine when a body part touched the ground and then use the digital evidence to see where the ball should be placed.

[H-Town G-Fan]

When will the sensor know when a runner's knee or other body part (other than feet or hands) touch the ground?

I would imagine a hybrid system. Just spitballing: give the referees clickers--they click when the believe the runner was down, its time-stamped, and its fed to the tracking system which spits out what yard line the ball was on at the time of the click, reports in the referees ears, then they spot it.

Not perfect, obviously... as do you give them all clickers? What do you do then when multiple click--do you average the click time or something like that? Maybe put someone in a booth with every camera angle and all they do is the try to determine when the runner was down?

Certainly kinks to work out in any system. But my point is really that there are very likely some solutions and probably hybrid with some human input.

[kartanoman]

I wouldn't have an issue with this, provided it's definitely more accurate than human calls. I don't see a good argument for why sports should not use technology to make officiating more accurate. Why allow for human error when you don't have to? Tennis is way better now that they have the technological arbiter on close calls. What is worse than a team losing a game because of a wrong call that could have been avoided with the use of available technology?

Very true. It is currently in use in the Australian Football League (AFL) for scoring reviews. Still, I've witnessed it being used incorrectly which ended up screwing a scoring decision for a team which ultimately cost them a berth in their Finals (i.e. playoffs).

It has the potential to take the subjective out of the reviewing process as long as the process for using it has been made error-proof due to the introduction of human in the loop error of other variables. For first downs, that would mean discernment of "when" the whistle was blown to indicate forward progress was stopped. (Edited to add) In addition, I wanted to recognize all those here who offered other excellent examples which would require other technologies, such as video, or sensors implanted in the ball, or maybe even microphones to hear the referee's whistle!

Let's hope they figure that part out first before implementing it at large.

Peace!

[jimc]

I like the fallibility in games, gives us fans something to blame loses on.