For decades, the NFL has used a couple of orange poles connected by a 10-yard-long chain to measure the line to gain for first downs. That is changing in 2025. NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported ...

The league will use a mix of human empires and automation going forward. David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images So-called “robot umpires” are officially coming to Major League Baseball.

It was as if the scene was designed to highlight the inadequacies of how the NFL measures first downs. Late in last January’s AFC title game, with his team clinging to a one-point lead, Buffalo Bills ...

As it seeks a solution somewhere between full-on robot umpires and human umpires calling balls and strikes, MLB is experimenting with one such compromise—an Automated Ball-Strike challenge ...

The next time a measurement is needed to determine a first down, it won't be the chain gang coming out to make the measurement — it won't even be a human. At the NFL's spring owners meeting on Tuesday ...