INITIAL INSTANT REPLAY: 1985–1992

Less than a decade after McNally’s experiment, momentum for an instant replay system once again began to build.

The NFL tested a review system during eight preseason games in 1985 — producing promising results.

Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell delivers a message during a 1982 news conference. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)

“The thing we learned in the preseason is that we can get the logistical things done,” NFL Director of Administration Joe Rhein said. “That is, it’s possible to review instant replays [in the press box] and get the word to the referee on the field without a significant loss of time.”

The system performed so well that owners held an unprecedented vote to determine if the league would use instant replay in the upcoming playoffs — even though the system had never been used in the regular season. The motion failed narrowly, but the close decision made it clear the league’s leaders were once again warming up to the technology.

“[Owners] didn’t want a playoff game decided by a bad call, and so they tried to push it through right there,” Art Modell, Cleveland Browns owner, said after the vote. “But that was a little too quick for some people.”

“Replay gives us a better chance to walk off the field error-free.” Art McNally

“Some clubs may have voted against it at the time because it was adding something for the postseason that was not available during the regular season,” NFL spokesman Joe Browne said at the time.

In the proposed 1985 system, a replay official would have monitored the game feed from an in-stadium booth and initiated all reviews, reversing a call only with “indisputable visual evidence.”

Prior to the 1986 season, the owners voted 23-4-1 — 21 votes were needed to pass — to adopt limited use of instant replay in the upcoming year. The initial process lacked the coach’s challenges and technology familiar to today’s fans. Most reviews were initiated upstairs by the replay official, except when game officials requested a review of their ruling after conferring on the field.

Dallas Cowboys president and general manager Tex Schramm stalks the sidelines before Super Bowl XIII, a 35-31 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Jan. 21, 1979. (AP Photo/NFL Photos)

Reviewable plays during instant replay’s first installation included:

Plays of possession or touching (fumbles, interceptions, receptions, muffs, or ineligible player touching a forward pass);

Most plays governed by the sidelines, goal lines, end lines and line of scrimmage (whether a player is out of bounds, forward or backward passes or breaking the plane of the goal line);

And easily detectable infractions on replay (too many men on the field).

The decision was only reached after a spirited debate and concessions to appease skeptics. The compromise: The system would be guaranteed for only one year and would have to be voted on again during the following offseason.

“Some feel we are taking the human element out of the game and moving it to a booth in the press box,” said Tex Schramm, who then served as Dallas Cowboys general manager and NFL Competition Committee chairman.

Replay officials sat in a booth in the stadium with two nine-inch television monitors showing the broadcast feed and two videocassette recorders. The two VCRs were capable of recording and immediately replaying individual plays. Reviews would be a maximum of two minutes, timed from the moment when the umpire signaled timeout.

First use of instant replay in 1986 Week 1 between the Browns and Bears.

Instant replay’s first regular season saw an average of 1.6 reviews per game. Of those plays in question — 374 in all — only 10 percent ended with a reversal of the ruling on the field.

The owners reapproved instant replay for the next season. Barely. The measure got exactly the 21 votes needed to pass (21-7) and was accepted with a few minor tweaks. But just like the 1986 decision, the system would have to be approved again the following offseason.

Some adjustments were made in an attempt to improve the system. To ensure replay officials were experts on the technology, the NFL would now hold a training clinic each offseason. The equipment improved as well, albeit slightly, as review monitors were upgraded — from nine inches to 12 inches.

“I’m confident the system will get better and better,” Hall of Fame Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula said after the ’87 vote. “As coaches, we realized we can’t see a game from the sidelines as well as our coaches can from upstairs in the press box. If you transmit that same thinking to officials, it helps them too.”