In recent years those three little words have increasingly become part of sports lexicon — driving some to be mindful of that old axiom ‘be careful what you wish for.’ Initiated as a mechanism to use modern technology as a tool to increase officiating accuracy on the field of play, there are those who are now lamenting the disruptive nature of the process it has brought to the games it is meant to serve.

The scenes are now familiar to both fans in the stadiums, and TV viewers at home as on-field officials don headsets or huddle around monitors to ‘wait for confirmation from above’ regarding the validity of a call before play can resume. Not seen are the behind-the-scenes decision makers whose ultimate call is the final authority regarding the question of dispute.

Ever wonder who these ‘mysterious’ individuals are ruling on plays from high above or from a faraway command post? Well, at least one of them is known to local folks, whose day job is a broker for Mericle Commercial Real Estate.

While a student at Penn State University, Jeff Bower served as a football manager and umpired baseball during the summer. When his oldest daughter got involved in Pop Warner cheerleading in 1990, he got the bug to get back into football. He took his officiating test in 1992 and has been actively involved ever since. During that time Bower has officiated Pop Warner, junior high school, high school and collegiately at the Division I, II and III levels.

This past fall he left the field of play to become part of the Northeast Conference’s initial year using Replay for its football games. The conference is comprised of football members Bryant, Central Connecticut, Duquesne, Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU Brooklyn, Mount Saint Mary’s, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart, St. Francis Brooklyn, St. Francis U, and Wagner.

“Instant replay is up and coming now, and all the Division I Conferences are going to replay,” Bower explained. “I was in the Northeast Conference, and I wanted to officiate for a couple of more years, and the opportunity came up last year when the conference decided to go full-time on replay.”

“I’m not sure that they have truly defined what the qualifications are for an official to be selected for the replay booth. In our crew, we have a gentleman who has never officiated but was an Observer and had worked for the Philadelphia Eagles at one time. The Power Five Conferences are looking at various areas to identify people. Individuals selected must have a football background, and most all of them are former officials that have left on-field work.

“In the Northeast Conference, there are two individuals who man the replay booth. One is a replay official; the other is called a communicator.

“There are specific guidelines regarding reviewable plays, but scoring plays, fumbles and loose balls, catch/no catch, and targeting plays are among the most common. If we see a play that constitutes targeting and has not been called on the field we can call it from the booth. We have what we call a ‘Green Hat,’ which is another official on the sidelines. He is directly in contact with the booth. Both the Back Judge and the Referee on the field have a mechanism that also allows them to communicate with the booth. If we see something that we need to stop the game for, we will buzz those on-field officials. They will then come over to the Green Hat and put the headset on so that we can communicate with them.

“Unless we have indisputable video evidence (IVE) the call won’t be overturned. You will hear the referee say ‘the play stands,’ which means there was no video evidence to overturn the call. If they say ‘the play on the field is confirmed,’ that means there is video evidence that confirms the right call was made. If they say ‘after further review,’ then they can correct the call made on the field based upon the video evidence.

“In our conference, when a play is reviewed we are the final authority. In the Big Ten, they go to Chicago, and the Southeast uses Atlanta, but for us, what the review booth determines is the final say. I don’t have statistics regarding the number of plays we reviewed and the number that were actually overturned, but that number is very small. The biggest thing is to make sure the call on the field is the right call,” Bower emphasized.

“There are no time restraints placed upon the replay booth. We try to do it as quickly as possible. The only time factor involved is that we cannot stop action for the previous play once the next play on the field starts. If I’m reviewing a play, I’ll tell the communicator that, ‘they are coming to the ball.’ He’ll alert the Green Hat, who then communicates with the referee to let him know we may have a review coming. But it must be done before the next play.”

Bower’s replay work begins the evening before the game.

“It all starts Friday night when we will meet with the game officiating crew. We go over logistics and the kinds of things we will be looking for. We review play situations and things we may have received from National. If the crew hasn’t worked the stadium before, we make sure of things they should be aware of. All the stadiums in our conference are set up with ten cameras. Those cameras are located on the goal line, end line, sidelines, and goal posts. On game day, we will get to the stadium three hours before kickoff. If it is an ESPN or other live telecast we will meet with the production crew to review additional logistics and things of importance.”

From Bower’s perspective, the first year the Northeast Conference used the replay system was received very well by the coaches and the schools. “There could be a few minor tweaks before this season, but nothing major is expected. Any changes that may be implemented will come from National.”

As to the potential of replay coming to Division III schools such as Lycoming College or other MAC schools Bower indicated, “There has been some talk of replay eventually being used in Division III Conferences, and it may happen in one conference in Texas, but it is very costly to implement.”