The Yellow First-Down Line: An Oral History of a Game Changer

ESPN's Sunday Night Football broadcast on Sept. 27, 1998 — 15 years ago this week — featured an unremarkable matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals. But the game bears a historical footnote most NFL fans probably don't know—it also marked the debut on TV screens across the country of the now-ubiquitous yellow line that's digitally imposed on football fields to show where a team needs to reach for a new set of downs

Earlier that same year, Bill Squadron and Stan Honey left their jobs at News Corp to build a startup. Its name: Sportvision. Its goal: Leveraging technology's rapid growth to improve the sports-viewing experience for fans at home. Read more...