NFL fans have spent the last three days complaining about the league’s inability to adapt to new technology. The argument is simple: Tennis uses Hawk-Eye technology to determine whether a ball is in or out within seconds, and all of the world’s top soccer leagues use Video Assistant Referee, otherwise known as VAR, automatically alerting referees to officiating errors via a system of 42 ultra-slow-motion cameras.

Add in the fact that the USFL used ball-spotting technology during its 2022 relaunch, and it’s fair to question why the world’s most profitable sports league is still using a chain gang and index cards to measure first downs, the former of which was created more than 100 years ago when touchdowns were five points and field goals were four.

This debate happens every few years, but it got reignited during last weekend’s AFC Championship game. For those who missed it, Bills quarterback Josh Allen tried a QB sneak on fourth and one with 13 minutes left in the fourth quarter. On TV, it looked like Allen moved far enough for a first down, but officials determined Allen was short of the line to gain. The Chiefs regained control of the ball, scored a touchdown on the ensuing possession, and won the game to advance to their third straight Super Bowl.

The play in question went to video review. However, the problem was that none of CBS’ 40+ cameras showed a definitive angle of Allen making the first down. That left officials in a tough spot. The eye test indicated Josh Allen reached the line to gain, but NFL rules stipulate that referees need definitive video evidence to overturn the call, and there wasn’t a single camera angle that explicitly showed the ball across the line.

Bills fans were (understandably) upset, and the ongoing narrative that the Chiefs get all the favorable calls didn’t help. This led to an intense online debate that is still raging several days later. The tweet below, for instance, has 7.7 million impressions, 159,000 likes, 10,000 retweets, and over 3,000 comments. RIP that guy’s notifications.

To be clear, I understand why people feel this way. Sports are emotional, especially for a team like the Bills, who haven’t been to the Super Bowl in 32 years. I also think sports betting plays a role in this. It’s estimated that $23 billion was wagered on last year’s Super Bowl. Even if it is a fraction of that for the AFC Championship game, so much money is being gambled on these games that referees are expected to be perfect.

The problem with perfection is that there isn’t a perfect solution. I know this is a narrative violation, but the NFL already has much better technology than people realize, and the solution isn’t as simple as adopting the Hawk-Eye system in tennis.

For starters, it’s important to mention that the NFL already uses RFID tracking chips during gameplay. These chips weigh just 3.3 grams, adding less than 1% to a football’s total weight. They have been implanted inside every football used during practices, preseason, regular season, and postseason games over the last decade. Chips are also in every player’s shoulder pads, on officials, and inside the stick, chains, and pylons.

The NFL sends a crew of three people to every game. Seated in the press box, these employees monitor data from all 54 footballs used during the game. They turn on the chips before the game starts and shut them down afterward to conserve battery power.

Everyone has seen Next Gen stats, right? Well, that data comes from these RFID chips. Whether fans want to know how fast a player ran during a specific play or the yards of separation between a receiver and a defensive back, the NFL has dramatically expanded its data collection over the last few years to improve the viewing experience.

This process provides the NFL, its teams, and broadcast partners with over 300 million data points annually. Training staffs use it to determine a player’s workload throughout the week, and it has become a foundational part of Amazon’s broadcast.

Amazon has been feeding this data into machine-learning models for the past several years. Based on certain plays, formations, and tendencies, these models can now predict which players will likely blitz before each snap. Fans love this so much that Amazon has hired three on-air analysts to explain the data in real-time during games.

Teams are also developing their own AI models to help them better prepare for each game. While no one wants winners and losers to be determined by spreadsheets and AI, the data is there, and teams would be foolish not to use it to their advantage.

Now that I have bore you with all the details, I’m sure you’re asking: If the NFL already has RFID tracking chips inside each football, the chains, and player shoulder pads, why don’t they use these same chips to spot a ball accurately within seconds?

Well, it’s complicated. While RFID chips are great at gathering advanced metrics, the elongated sphere shape of a football makes it challenging. Each NFL football only has one RFID chip — located on the opposite side of where you inject air — and accuracy is only guaranteed within 3 to 6 inches. That’s not good enough for first-down calls.

The Hawk-Eye system used in tennis is the most commonly mentioned alternative, but that doesn’t work either. Hawk-Eye is an optical tracking solution, meaning it uses a series of cameras located around a venue to determine a ball’s location.

The problem with that solution is that optical tracking requires 75% of the ball to be visible by light. That’s not a problem when you are playing tennis on an open court with a perfect line of sight, but it obviously wouldn’t work in the NFL, as the ball is barely visible during tackles, pile-ups, QB sneaks, or scrums at the goal line.

The 3-D Doppler radar technology that MLB has been piloting for its eventual robot umpire system presents similar challenges, as does the VAR system used by FIFA.

However, this doesn’t mean the NFL won’t find a solution. The NFL has been testing a new line-to-gain tracking system for the last few years. It started with preseason games during the 2023 NFL season before eventually expanding into a handful of stadiums, including live game tests at MetLife Stadium, Hard Rock Stadium, and SoFi Stadium. The NFL also ran a behind-the-scenes test of this technology during last year’s Super Bowl at Allegiant Stadium and will do it again this year in New Orleans.

The league office has been pretty tight-lipped about how this would work, but the consensus seems to be that they will use a combination of technologies. Similar to how FIFA implanted RFID chips within all its soccer balls at the last World Cup, working with 12 optical cameras to capture player movement 50 times per second, the NFL could combine RFID tracking with the optical tracking system seen in tennis.

The USFL had some success with this. In 2022, the upstart football league replaced the “chain gang” with a first-down laser line visible on the field. In connection with a tracking chip inside the football, the USFL used a series of sensors, cameras, and receivers positioned around the stadium and under the field to measure ball spotting within a sixteenth of an inch. The USFL also leveraged a system called Bolt6 to spot the ball, using eight in-stadium cameras to measure a ball’s placement on the field.

This seemed to work well. Some people even started mocking the NFL, questioning how the USFL could possibly have better technology in its first year than a league that generates $20 billion in annual revenue. The part people didn’t realize, though, is that the chip required for the USFL’s technology was larger than the chip currently used in the NFL. Several players complained that this distorted the weight and feel of the ball.

The NFL won’t have this problem because they are already testing a solution without changing the football, which means they are using additional technology on top of the RFID chips. But with that said, I would be careful what you ask for. More technology is not always a good thing, and it could negatively impact the fan experience.

Sports leagues have spent the last decade implementing technology in the pursuit of perfection. Tennis players request video reviews on nearly a dozen shots each match. VAR routinely takes beautiful goals off the scoreboard when a player’s toenail is determined to be offside. NFL games take longer than they used to because every score has to be video-reviewed, and every penalty is analyzed from 20+ camera angles.

In some sense, I get it. The legalization of sports betting has put leagues and players on edge. Perfection is the only option when people are betting money on an outcome.

That’s fine. I like watching sports, and social media hasn’t completely eroded my attention span, at least not yet. But my concern is that while every other sports league is attempting to adapt to societal trends by shortening the length of their games or matches, the NFL has essentially done the opposite over the last few years.

Today, the average NFL game lasts 3 hours and 12 minutes, but there are still only 18 minutes of live action. The rest of the time — roughly 90% of the broadcast — is filled with players standing around, commercial breaks, challenges, and video reviews.

MLB changed its entire rule book to make games shorter, implementing a pitch clock, limiting mound visits, and giving relievers less time to warm up. Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy started a new indoor golf league with a shot clock and 2-hour time limit.

Despite this trend, the NFL has intentionally slowed down its games. They now allow video review for various penalties, including roughing the passer and intentional grounding. Add in optical tracking for first downs, and the problem only worsens.

It feels silly to question anything the NFL does. While other leagues are worried about discoverability, the NFL has media rights deals with nearly a dozen cable and streaming platforms. While commissioners across professional sports are changing rulebooks to shorten games, the NFL is adding rules that will do the opposite.

The NFL has earned the benefit of the doubt. For the last decade, people have said, “Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered,” but the NFL only gets more popular. It feels like every decision they make is the right one, no matter how much others might disagree.

Will that eventually catch up to them? Maybe. I just worry about where this ends. The need for optical tracking technology will only be useful once every few games, as cameras usually provide a good enough angle for the seldom video spotting reviews.

This solution still needs to be approved by 24 of the league’s 32 owners. But that will eventually happen, and don’t be surprised if its use expands from there. It’s easy to imagine a world where technology could take over the game entirely, automating first-down measurements and ensuring every penalty is accurate via artificial intelligence.

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