Replacing Sports Referees With Technology?

dividedsky319 asks: "There have been numerous instances in which fans of a sporting team blame the loss of a game on the refs. Yet, nowadays, technology could replace a lot of what referees do. A sensor in a baseball could determine a ball or a strike. Same with a tennis match, the ball is either in or out. A sensor in a football could determine whether the ball moved forward 10 yards for a first down. Why hasn't this happened, yet? Obviously not all calls can be determined by technology, but it is feasible for certain instances. What would be the ramifications if something like this WAS introduced, and why has it taken so long?"

Comments

Re:FIFA

[Richard Steiner]

It's true that soccer is not yet a very popular men's sport in the US, at least above the college level, and despite multiple attempts to create and publicize professional leagues.

Since international "football" doesn't have the level of intense strategy found in American football, the speed of hockey or lacrosse, the level of athleticism found in basketball, or the intense one-on-one element of tennis or even baseball, I really don't see its status in the US changing any time soon.

I do like watching it at times, and the positional play is interesting to me, but that is not enough. It simply doesn't have much of a history here...