The NBA’s new replay center in Secaucus, N.J. (Photo by NBA)
The NBA has opened a new, state-of-the-art replay center at the league’s office in Secaucus, N.J., that “will enhance the performance of time, ensuring they have the best angles to make conclusive calls when a play is reviewable.”
The center, which looks a lot like NASA’s Mission Control Center, includes 20 replay stations and 94 television monitors, and will be connected to all 29 NBA arenas.
When a play during any game is eligible for review, feeds from various camera angles will be instantly available to the replay center, and the with the best views will be sent to referees at the game to help them make the correct call.
The replay center, which will be in use for the start of the 2014-15 season next week, will be the league’s hub for all reviewable video. In addition, the league will unveil a replay video archive, at . Fans and media will be able to search the database by date, team and replay trigger at any point during the season, and will be informed of the outcome of calls through on Twitter.
Last week the NBA Board of Governors approved changes to its instant replay rules to the following:
• Officials can now use instant replay whenever they are not certain a team had an improper number of players on the court while the ball was in play.
• Instant replay triggers that are currently in effect during only the last two minutes of regulation and the overtime periods instead will instead be in effect during only the last two minutes of regulation and the last two minutes of overtime periods.
• Officials can now review a play whenever they are not certain as to which team should be given possession after a ball goes out of bounds, or whether an out of bounds in actually occurred during the last two minutes of regulation and the last two minutes of overtime periods.
• Officials can now use instant replay whenever they are unsure if a foul that was called meets the criteria of a flagrant foul.
• Instant replay can be used when officials are not sure if a foul that was called meets the criteria of a clear-path-to-the-basket foul.
• And lastly, instant replay can be used whenever officials are not certain when a player (offensive or defensive) without the ball was fouled relative to the timing of a successful shot.
