FCFL Wish List, Item #1: Instant Replay Done Right

This was briefly discussed in the recent ‘Ask Me Anything’ done by FCFL co-founders Ray Austin, Patrick Dees and Grant Cohen.  They were split in their opinions, and I suspect that this is one of the rules that they’ll ultimately let the fans decide.

I think instant replay should be part of the FCFL and it’s one of the areas where fan participation can potentially address most of the problems with the NFL’s replay system. A quick summary of what I think those problems are would include:

• Takes too long
• Often gets wrong result
• Doesn’t follow stated rules

Here’s how instant replay would solve each of those in the FCFL…

My understanding is that fans will allocate or lock tokens to a specific team at the beginning of the year, giving them added influence in the decision-making process for that team.  All votes related to replay for a game would automatically exclude those who had locked tokens for either team involved in a game.  In addition, for games with major implications for other teams (for example, the potential to knock them out of playoff contention), fans with locked tokens for those teams should be excluded from the process.

Within a very short time after each play (probably 5-10 seconds), if fans with enough eligible tokens vote for a replay, play will be stopped and a league official will select 2-3 views of the play to be shown on the broadcast.  Once those are shown, eligible fans will vote on whether to overturn the play.  Whatever the decision is after 30 seconds will be relayed to an on-field official, and the game will continue.

Deadlines will be automatic, eliminating the problem of decisions taking too long.

By definition, the decision made will be the one that the fans prefer.  No more results that most people disagree with.

This process should also eliminate the problem of individual officials ignoring the guidelines of only overturning plays where the original call was clearly wrong.

By locking out fans of the impacted teams, FCFL will also eliminate the potential problem of replay decisions just being a popularity contest between the two teams on the field.

Make it happen guys!