As the NFL rose in popularity, so did media attention of the Sport.  And with media attention comes scrutiny, and one area the media focuses on is blown calls and poor referring.  This caused the NFL to re-examine the rule book, and incorporate some changes which it felt would better the game.

It was on this day, March 11th, 1986, that the NFL announced it would use instant replay as a tool to better officiate games.  Only officials would be able to initiate a review and limited technology made the initiative to seem ahead of it’s time.

Replay would go away in 1992, as NFL teams and fans both agreed it wasn’t a worthwhile initiative.  However, as history would show us, instant replay would come back into the NFL and the second time around, it would be here to stay.