Nfl Bosses Will Revisit Replay Issue Instant Replay Hottest Topic At This Week’s League Meetings
Instant replay, debated by NFL owners for two decades, again will be the focal point at the league meetings that begin today.
But there are so many suggestions and so many different opinions, it may again fail to get the votes needed to return as part of the game.
There are at least four proposals for replay - from the league office, plus New Orleans, Washington and Atlanta. And while the competition committee, which sets the rules, is expected to recommend a compromise proposal, it may be hard to frame one that can get the necessary 23 votes from the 30 teams.
“It’s the same old stuff,” said George Young, the league’s vice president for football operations and former co-chairman of the committee, who as general manager of the New York Giants was the leader of the anti-replay group. “We’ve heard the same arguments every year.”
Other major topics that will be discussed sooner include ratification of the labor agreement through 2004 and a decision on whether Cleveland will get an expansion team or a relocated existing franchise.
The labor agreement is likely to be approved, although there are some owners who dislike the decision to guarantee a salary for a season of any player who begins a year on a team’s roster. In the past, only a halfseason’s salary was guaranteed for a player who was cut once regular-season play began.
Cleveland is likely to get an expansion team rather than an existing one, although the final decision might not be made this week. The city is guaranteed a new “Cleveland Browns” for 1999 to replace the team that left for Baltimore after the 1995 season.
But replay is still the biggest issue and the one of most national interest.
One of the four proposals - by Atlanta - would return the system in use from 1986-91, in which the game would be automatically halted if a play were in question. But instead of a separate official making a determination in the press box, it would be the referee - after viewing a monitor on the field.
The other three are all varieties of the challenge system, in which a coach can challenge a play that goes against his team. Again, the referee would make the decision.
In some scenarios, a team challenging a play would be assessed a time out or penalized if the challenge failed. In others, there would be no penalty.
In most cases, the coaches favor replay, general managers and owners are more reluctant.
At last year’s meetings, some coaches balked because of the penalties for challenge, and it got 20 votes, three votes short of the three-quarters necessary for approval.
The addition of a team in Cleveland in 1999 would give the NFL 31 teams and necessitate a bye for at least one team each week.
But NFL spokesman Joe Browne said he had been assured by the scheduling department that such a lineup was workable. A 32nd team, most likely in Los Angeles or Houston - two other deserted cities - is likely to be added in the following year or two.
xxxx COMING UP The replay debate won’t come until Tuesday or Wednesday, after the committee report is submitted and debated.