NFL mulling microchips in footballs for those life-or-death goal line rulings

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/06/nfl-mulling-microchips-in-footballs-for-those-life-or-death-goal/

The NFL is serious business. So serious, in fact, that the idea of refs getting decisions wrong sends chills up and down Roger Goodell's spine. Yeah, we all know they do it habitually, but the League seems to be considering improving accuracy just a little bit with the help of some tech. Cairos Technologies, a German outfit that's been trying to sell its goal line technology to football (as in soccer) bigwigs for a while, has told Reuters that it's in discussions with the NFL about bringing its magnetic field hocus pocus to the gridiron. The idea would be for the ref to be alerted, via a message to his watch, any time the ball does something notable like crossing the goal line or first down marker. It should be a great aid for making difficult calls like whether a touchdown has happened at the bottom of a scrum, and might even help cut down on the number of frightfully dull replay challenges. Win-win, no?

Original image courtesy of NFL.com

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NFL mulling microchips in footballs for those life-or-death goal line rulings originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Aug 2010 06:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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