NFL Sticks With Instant Replay

March 30, 2000 / 1:14 AM EST / CBS/AP

Instant replay is getting so popular among NFL owners that they may want to keep it for good.

Teams voted 28-3 to continue the system reinstated last season. Replay, which returned after a seven-year absence, will be exactly the same: Coaches will get two challenges per game, and a replay official can stop play on his own for a challenge in the last two minutes of each half.

The vote emboldened its proponents, particularly among the coaches.

"Next year is the pivotal year," said Minnesota's Dennis Green, the new co-chairman of the competition committee. "If things go smoothly next season, it may be time to put it in on a permanent basis."

That may be hard.

Replay, first instituted for the 1986 season, has always been renewed on a yearly basis, both from 1987-91 and the past two years. That has meant it needs three-fourths of the teams, currently 24 of 31, for approval. If it goes in permanently, it would take three-fourths of the teams to repeal it, a step many may not be willing to take given some of the controversial calls last season.

Cincinnati and Arizona also voted against it for the second straight year. Kansas City replaced the New York Jets as the third dissenter.

"Human nature doesn't change, and it's humans who run these machines," said Cincinnati's Mike Brown, who has voted against replay every time it has been proposed.

"I voted for it last year to give a chance," said Kansas City's Lamar Hunt, another consistent anti-replay owner. "I didn't think it worked any better than it had before."

Commissioner Paul Tagliabue was noncommittal.

"That doesn't matter to me today," he said when asked about making replay permanent. "We made the right decision for this year."

Owners also passed a new rule mandating fines for celebrations by two or more players. The vote on that was 30-0 with one abstention the St. Louis Rams, whose players pioneered the "bob and weave" celebration en route to their Super Bowl victory.

"The coaches said across the board that players on their teams regarded it as provocative," Tagliabue said. "The coaches felt it was very negative to spend time before a game trying to cool players down. They felt there was no need for it to be an issue in the locker room."

In additional action, the NFL voted to consolidate its Internet presence into NFL.com. Internet revenue will be equally divided among the 31 teams, just as television revenues are, for the next two years, then the issue will be reviewed.

"Many felt it was as important as in 1961, selling the TV rights as a national package," Tagliabue said. "The difference was that was permanent nd this was for two years."

The NFL discussed scheduling for 2002, when Houston enters the NFL. Tagliabue said there was some discussion of adding one team in each conference to the playoffs, expanding it to 14 teams.

In a policy change, the league eliminated the supervisory coaching tag that allowed teams to hire away assistant coaches from other teams. An assistant coach now can only be hired away to become a head coach, unless permission is given by his current team to the team pursuing him.