What the league must do in light of the PSI Issue

The league needs to change the rules regarding how the footballs are checked prior to the start of this season.

It needs to purchase 32 identical pumps and have the pumps and their gauges certified by the National Standards and Measures.

It needs to purchase 64 air gauges and have those gauges certified as well..

Each team will provide 12 balls in a bag with said teams LOGO on the bag.

One pump and 2 gauges will then be sent in a locked case to each football stadium to be put in each official's locker-room. Only the officials will have a key to open said case.

The referee and one official from each team will be present when the balls are checked via the NFL provided gauges.
The referee will then check each of the footballs provided by both teams, recording the psi accordingly.
The Referees will be required to inflate/deflate the balls so that they are within 12.5-13.5 psi, noting which one.
The Referee will then be responsible for bringing the bags out to the field and handing the bags to each teams respective ball boy..


This is the only way to ensure this doesn't happen again.. Put the responsibility where it belongs. On the Officials.

64 Gauges? That might be too expensive for the league.

What's the issue again? Just force only the Patriots to use 16psi balls, everyone else can continue to tamper away as they please.

FrodoBagginz said:

64 Gauges? That might be too expensive for the league.

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Maybe they could have a bake sale or perhaps a car wash?

Unless they decide to have all games played in climate controlled environments then they need to simply remove the archaic policy of regulating pre-game PSI range. The playing pressure of a football in a dome vs a frigid outdoor game is always going to be significantly different, and it makes no sense to have a rule that requires the pressure to be at a certain level when the playing conditions have an impact that is greater than the allowable range.

emoney_33 said:

Unless they decide to have all games played in climate controlled environments then they need to simply remove the archaic policy of regulating pre-game PSI range. The playing pressure of a football in a dome vs a frigid outdoor game is always going to be significantly different, and it makes no sense to have a rule that requires the pressure to be at a certain level when the playing conditions have an impact that is greater than the allowable range.

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Actually, it's not archaic. It's fine. They just need to understand, as you pointed out, that the footballs will be different after a game than before a game. A game played in Miami in September when it's 100 degrees on the field with 90% humidity, will measure higher than started. A game played in Green Bay in December with a temperature of -10, the ball PSI will be lower.. Plain and simple..

DaBruinz said:

Actually, it's not archaic. It's fine. They just need to understand, as you pointed out, that the footballs will be different after a game than before a game. A game played in Miami in September when it's 100 degrees on the field with 90% humidity, will measure higher than started. A game played in Green Bay in December with a temperature of -10, the ball PSI will be lower.. Plain and simple..

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How is it not archaic? And what will understanding the variation of PSI do? How can the rule be "fine" if the PSI is expected to vary so wildly?

A mere 30 degrees of temperature change reduces the air pressure by more than the 1 PSI window of regulation.

And it's not just about the measurement *after* the game, if there is a purpose in regulating PSI it would be for *during* the game, which as we know cannot be done with differing environments.

The bottom line is that decades ago they just took Wilson's recommendations for PSI and put it into the rule book. There is no competitive nature for the rule and air pressure is so heavily influenced by the environment that it makes no logical sense to try to strictly control it unless you strictly control the playing environment.

emoney_33 said:

How is it not archaic? And what will understanding the variation of PSI do? How can the rule be "fine" if the PSI is expected to vary so wildly?

A mere 30 degrees of temperature change reduces the air pressure by more than the 1 PSI window of regulation.

And it's not just about the measurement *after* the game, if there is a purpose in regulating PSI it would be for *during* the game, which as we know cannot be done with differing environments.

The bottom line is that decades ago they just took Wilson's recommendations for PSI and put it into the rule book. There is no competitive nature for the rule and air pressure is so heavily influenced by the environment that it makes no logical sense to try to strictly control it unless you strictly control the playing environment.

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You're completely missing the point. Completely. It takes away the whole competitive advantage argument if the balls are ensured to be between 12.5 and 13.5 psi by a ref..

BTW, the measurement after the game doesn't mean anything. What means something is that it was done in a controlled setting by the officials of the league..

or they could just go back to what they did before brady and manning complained.......refs can bring the balls and there are no balls for this team or that team......

DaBruinz said:

You're completely missing the point. Completely. It takes away the whole competitive advantage argument if the balls are ensured to be between 12.5 and 13.5 psi by a ref..

BTW, the measurement after the game doesn't mean anything. What means something is that it was done in a controlled setting by the officials of the league..

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My point is there isn't any competitive advantage... You don't need to waste any time whatsoever worrying about PSI.

I think the ball boy thing is over with. How can they talk about psi and league integrity and then hand the balls to a ball person. They will need a paid league ball attendant to protect the balls. They can call him the "CUP"!

Some thoughts;

• The process should start with the teams providing their footballs, prepared in the manner they like (as is apparently allowed under the current rules), to the league officials. Once that is done the teams should not have any opportunity to handle the balls again, except for game balls that the league allows them to to keep and permanently remove from game play (such as when someone scores a milestone touchdown or the like). The teams should be allowed to have their own practice balls on the sidelines during the game (for warming up QBs and kickers, and such) but those should be marked clearly in a way that will prevent them from erroneously being used in the game.

• There should be a league employee (or two or three) whose job it is to manage the chain of custody of the footballs from the moment the teams provide them, through all of the pressure checks, the transportation of the balls to and from the field, and during the game. These people should be the ones that do the pressure checks. The game officials should not be responsible for that job. These people will be responsible for making sure that Team A's balls are used when Team A is either on offense or kicking, and Team B's balls are used for Team B's offense and kicking. Noone associated with the teams should have anything at all to do with what happens to the balls except in cases where a team official requests to have a game ball permanently removed from game play.

• They need to implement a defined procedure for measuring the air pressure, including proper training for the people doing that work, with a stipulation that only properly trained personnel are permitted to conduct the measurement. This procedure should be in accordance with some recognized engineering standard. An independent engineering review and certification should be done to verify the propriety of the procedures, and this should be audited on a regular basis to make sure it is being followed.

• They need to ensure proper calibration of all pressure gauges and the thermometers used to measure the ambient temperature in the room where the pressure is checked. Perhaps also they need to measure the ambient barometric pressure and relative humidity in the room where the pressure is checked. All calibrations must also be done in accordance with a recognized engineering standard, and recorded, and independently audited and certified. The gauges must be checked for accuracy before being used to check the air pressure of the balls.

• They need to document the specific results of the measurements of each ball, and keep a reference number for each ball so there is proper documentation of the beginning air pressure condition of any ball used in the game. These records must be kept in a manner that informs both teams and the league and game officials of all measurements, prior to the beginning of the game.

• Once the pressure measurements are made, the people responsible for compliance with the air pressure requirement must also be responsible for adjusting the measurements to levels within the required range. Ideally they should adjust the pressures so that all balls have essentially the same pressure.

• They need legitimate "control samples," meaning balls that are measured in the exact same way as the other balls but which are not used in the game and most likely are kept within the controlled environment of the room where the pressure is checked.

• There should be a legitimate sampling and rechecking procedure at halftime. If, for example, 24 balls are provided by each team, the check should be on say 12 balls for each team. The same thing should be done following the game. The exact same measurement procedures and recordkeeping should be employed for these two checks as is employed for the pre-game checks.