NFL Could Soon Let TV Viewers Watch, Hear Instant Replay Reviews

The NFL is considering making its instant replay review process available to be heard and seen by viewers on game broadcasts, a source confirms to Front Office Sports.

The possibility is being discussed by league officials and could be implemented during this season, the source says.

If so, the NFL would be following the lead of college football conferences such as the ACC, Big 12, and Big Ten that make conversations between replay officials and the referee on the field accessible to viewers.

The Big Ten announced expanded access to replay reviews on broadcasts following the controversial ending to the Western Michigan–Michigan game this season. Replay officials put one second back on the game clock, which allowed Michigan to score a touchdown on a Hail Mary pass for a 13–12 win. An NCAA oversight committee later acknowledged that proper replay protocols were not followed but said the result of the game could not be overturned.

The Big Ten released an audio clip and video of its replay process for the Western Michigan–Michigan ruling hours after that game, but there was no real-time access to the process on the game broadcast by NBC. The conference subsequently expanded its access to replay reviews to all broadcasts of games officiated by the Big Ten, after previously announcing expanded access for broadcasts of Friday night games.

The NFL currently does not provide such access on its broadcasts. Its instant replay reviews are coordinated from its game-day command center at the league’s offices in New York.

The NFL’s consideration of the change was first reported by Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated.

NFL teams can use instant replay challenges. But also, the league conducts automatic replay reviews on certain plays, such as scoring plays and turnovers, and utilizes a replay-assist system when possible to move the replay process along quickly without a challenge by a team.

Troy Vincent, the NFL’s EVP of football operations, said during an ownership meeting in August in Atlanta that the league told teams that day the instant replay decision-making in the NFL’s game-day officiating center in Manhattan would be headed this season by Mark Butterworth, Al Riveron, and Mike Annibale.

The difference this season is that there are now three designated replay decision-makers instead of just one previously (Butterworth). Riveron returned to the NFL after a stint as the ACC’s supervisor of officials.

“Most important to that particular … club is: Who’s making the call?” Vincent said then. “And we get that question from time to time throughout the season: Who is making the call on Sundays, Mondays, and Thursdays? You’ve got Mark Butterworth. We’ve got now Al Riveron back in the fold. And we have been training the last four years a gentleman by the name of Mike Annibale. That was most relevant to the membership. But we feel real good about [it]. I think it’s the best staff that we’ve had since I’ve been in the current role.”

The NFL’s officiating has been under scrutiny—as always—this season in particular over the number of penalties being called.

“Number of fouls can’t be an evaluation of officiating, necessarily, because we don’t commit the fouls, right?” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday in New York at the conclusion of a two-day owners meeting at a Manhattan hotel. “The officials are there to call the fouls. So I think when you evaluate officiating, you don’t look at it just in total number of fouls. I think that’s an inappropriate way to approach it. … So we look more deeply at: Are they properly called?”