Report: NFL withdraws sky judge proposal, will add no new officials for 2020

There will be no sky judge in the NFL for the 2020 season.

Owners were set to discuss two proposals on Thursday that would have added a sky judge to officiating crews, but both have been withdrawn, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network.

Both “sky judge” proposals are being withdrawn prior to tomorrow’s virtual meeting on rule changes, sources say.

Expect the NFL to still test some expanded booth-to-official communication system in the preseason. But no officiating personnel added for 2020.

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) May 27, 2020

The two proposals would have installed a booth umpire in the press box capable of using video to overturn any obvious missed calls made on the field. One proposal would have given this umpire more authority than the other did, but both are off the table now, at least for 2020.

This comes as something of a surprise, as we had heard that the NFL’s powerful competition committee was prepared to endorse the idea of a sky judge. That looked to be an important step in encouraging owners to back the idea as well. Instead, the wait looks set to continue for at least another year.