When plays are being reviewed, what is said between the officials on the field and the people in the control room? During the ACC Network broadcast of Saturday night’s game between East Texas A&M and SMU, viewers got some insight into that.
During a review of a fumble (as originally called on the field) in the first quarter, the ACC Gameday Operations Center in Charlotte was shown. Viewers got a glimpse of what the officials in Charlotte were seeing and got to hear what they said to the referee on the field.
Bill Hofheimer, who oversees ESPN’s college sports public relations, shared video of the review conversation on X.
Of note in the SMU opener now on @accnetwork: this is the first game to feature live audio from @theACC Game Day Operations Center in Charlotte.
ACCN lets fans listen to real-time conversations of reviewable plays – a first of its kind in college football coverage. pic.twitter.com/AyMckqYnVh
— bill hofheimer (@bhofheimer_espn) August 31, 2025
While this is a first for college football, this isn’t entirely unprecedented. In February of 2020, the XFL gave fans a similar look into the control room during reviews.
How the replay sausage is made, Part 2. #XFL2020 pic.twitter.com/fWOejv27MK
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 8, 2020
That said, until now, it has not been adopted by either college football or the NFL. And on Saturday night, the general feeling among viewers was that the transparency into the review process should become part of broadcasts going forward.
The ACC has taken the XFL/UFL model of letting fans listen in to replay review conversations.
This is a big win for transparency and something I went deep on this summer on the state of officiating: https://t.co/oR1ZkGrZuJ https://t.co/GUNGrw1HUT
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) August 31, 2025
This is awesome. Would love to have this in softball. Nice work @theACC and @accnetwork of giving the viewers what they want and need https://t.co/YqEN1RXmM1
— Brittany McKinney (@bmac_22) August 31, 2025
This should be a staple on every football broadcast now.
Could’ve been useful on controversial decisions (Ex. That Clemson-LSU call). https://t.co/5ONRZlCqgX
— Josh Graham (@JoshGrahamShow) August 31, 2025
Time will tell if this does become commonplace. Early returns, though, are positive.
About Michael Dixon
About Michael:
-- Writer/editor for thecomeback.com and awfulannouncing.com.
-- Bay Area born and raised, currently living in the Indianapolis area.
-- Twitter:
@mfdixon1985 (personal).
@michaeldixonsports (work).
-- Email: mdixon@thecomeback.com
Send tips, corrections, comments and (respectful) disagreements to that email. Do the same with pizza recommendations, taco recommendations and Seinfeld quotes.