The NFL won’t rely on the chain gang to take on-field measurements of first downs in 2025. (Photo by Perry Knotts/Getty Images)
(Perry Knotts via Getty Images)
Farewell, chain gang?
The NFL will use Sony’s Hawk-Eye technology as the primary way to measure the line to gain, the league announced Tuesday at its annual spring owners meetings. The technology will use six 8K cameras to track the ball’s position on the field.
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First-down measurements became a heated topic after the recent AFC championship game, where the Buffalo Bills’ Josh Allen fell short of a first down late in the game. Replays showed Allen reach the first-down marker, but the position of the ball could not be seen by sideline cameras. Referees confirmed the ruling after a review, and the Bills went on to lose the game.
In a media release, the NFL stated:
Sony’s Hawk-Eye virtual measurement technology will serve as an efficient alternative to the process of walking chains onto the field and manually measuring whether 10 yards have been met after the official has spotted the ball. The chain crew will remain on the field in a secondary capacity.
While Hawk-Eye will replace the chain gang walking out onto the field to measure first downs, the chain gang isn’t completely going away. The crew will “remain on the field in a secondary capacity,” per the league’s release.
The switch to Hawk-Eye should speed up crucial first-down measurements, though may not necessarily result in calls being more accurate. Hawk-Eye presumably would not have changed the outcome of Allen’s AFC championship plunge, as the ball was not visible to the camera during the play.
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In those instances, where officials spot the ball is what really matters.
Still, speeding up the game is a positive thing. With the Hawk-Eye cameras, the first-down measurement process should take roughly 30 seconds, per the league’s statement. That will save roughly 40 seconds compared to the manual chain-gang measurement.
That should allow games to get back to the action faster, and give fans less time to agonize over whether their entire season was lost because their favorite team couldn’t gain a single yard.
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