NFL Exec: Digital Technology to Measure 1st Downs, Replace Chains is ‘Not Ready Yet’

Julia StumbaughAugust 29, 2024

Sam Hodde/Getty Images

Digital measurements of first downs may be in the NFL’s future, but it sounds like chains and markers won’t be leaving the field any time soon.

NFL executive vice president of communications, public affairs and policy Jeff Miller told The Athletic’s Mike Jones the digital measurement technology is “not ready yet.”

“I think that’s still an idea whose time is coming. After consideration, it’s not ready yet,” Miller said, per Jones.

NFL executives experimented with digitally-measured first downs during the preseason, but the tech will not be implemented during the 2024 regular season, Jones reported.

That digital tracking system will not be put into effect in the regular season until “2025 at the earliest,” Mark Maske wrote earlier this week for the Washington Post.

That’s a step back from the original timeline reported by CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones, who wrote in May that the digital tracking would be used during the 2024 season “if the trial goes well.”

The new system made an appeared in Aug. 8 preseason action between the Detroit Lions and New York Giants. The review of the gain, which was short of a first down, resulted in a delay of several minutes (h/t Awful Announcing.)

Jordan Raanan @JordanRaananThe new laser technology to replace the chains coming out on the field to measure first downs. pic.twitter.com/cGCzb6AMWI

The digital tracking relies on “Hawk-Eye” technology, which is currently used in tennis to determine whether the ball is in or out, Michael David Smith previously reported for NBC Sports.

The technology, which is being used at the U.S. Open, uses high-definition cameras to capture hundreds of images of the ball per second. These allow for immediate evaluation of the ball’s location on the line, per Sydney Boyo of CNBC.

NFL executive Gary Brantley told Rob Maaddi of the Associated Press in July that league stadiums were “in the installation phase” of adding these cameras to stadiums.

“We have multiple stadiums with multiple dimensions inside of those stadiums with different age,” Brantley said in July. “So we’re really just going through the installation of putting in the infrastructure and making sure these cameras are installed.”

When and if the new system does go into effect, the NFL plans to keep the chains and markers in use on the sidelines “as a backup for measurements and a visual indicator of where the line to gain and line of scrimmage are,” ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura and Kris Rhim reported in June.

The NFL named Sony, the developer of the Hawk-Eye system, the league’s official technology partner in July. In addition to the digital first-down tracking, the league plans to debut new Sony communication headsets for coaches during the 2025 season, Jacob Feldman previously reported for Sportico.