Q: What do you think the chances are that replay will get passed?

"Probably where we are on replay is that in this digital age, this video age, I think we should have it for the ’99 season and I think we probably will have it. The question’s going to be whether it’s a coaches challenge system or some other type of system. We’ll look at some other types of systems. I’ve been telling some members of the competition committee about the three "R’s" and that’s not reading, riting and rithmetic; it's Realistic Replay Rreview. You have to understand; it won’t be instant and it has to be limited in some way. I think we’ll have a good, sharp focus on something other than a coaches challenge system or in addition to a coaches challenge system.

"For the postseason, I think that’s more of a question for the coaches and the clubs. Obviously, if we did it, it would have to be the coaches challenge system. We did the trial run in the preseason the last three years. That involved the coaches in officiating in a way that some of them are reluctant to incorporate into their game activity at this point in the season. Other coaches think that the officiating in the postseason is extremely good because you have the best crews out there and that makes it unnecessary. So we’ll listen to them on Tuesday during our competition committee call and see where it comes out. I think in January and February, we’ll have more competition committee meetings and, as I said, in a digital era, a video era, zoom lens era, I think we should have replay on some basis that’s realistic and workable."

Q: Are you concerned about changing the rules in the middle of the year?

"I’ve seen (Buccaneers head coach) Tony Dungy’s comments on that and I think that is a big part of the reluctance. Part of this league has always been that you kick off the regular season and everyone plays under the same set of rules, but it’s more than that. Jim Mora said it when we first debated the coaches challenge system that he had it in the USFL. He didn’t like it because you now have your coaching staff upstairs, your coordinators, looking at replay and officiating, rather than focusing on the defense and worrying about what your next play is going to be. So from a coaches standpoint, to bring it in at this late point of the season, you’re assuming that you can change the way you do some of your sideline management, I think that’s a concern…Quick fixes in the middle of a season usually tend to turn out like missed extra points, either wide to the right or wide to the left."

Q: Will there be a vote (on postseason replay use)?

"We’ll probably have a vote in the committee Tuesday. Depending where the committee is, then we’ll decide whether to take it to the clubs at large."

Q: What is the timetable on expansion?

"Well, the timetable on expansion is that we’ll have a league meeting in mid-February and continue the discussions with the Houston and Los Angeles applicants, then see whether we’re in a position to make any decisions.   We’ve been having discussion with LA and with Houston and things are moving along as we anticipated ."

Commissioner Tagliabue's comments prior to Miami - New York Jets game
December 13, 1998 - Regarding Instant Replay

"We're probably going to see a system other than a coaches' challenge but we have to get together to discuss the entire issue."