11 of 28 Owners End Instant Replay : Pro football: A minority of clubs vote to dump officiating aid, but that’s enough according to league rules.

The NFL took a “major step backward” Wednesday, in the opinion of some of its best and brightest executives, when it abolished instant-replay officiating for the 1992 season.

The vote was 17 clubs for extending instant replay and 11 against--meaning that a clear majority wanted to keep the procedure but were beaten by a small faction in a minority-rules league. The NFL constitution specifies that eight of the 28 club owners can block virtually anything.

“We’ll regret the day we voted it down,” said Jim Finks, president of the New Orleans Saints. “This is a major step backward for the NFL. This is stupidity on the part of our league.”

A respected NFL leader whose team reached the playoffs this winter, Finks said: “I’m not exactly embarrassed by this action, but the (league) is definitely showing poor judgment.”

Most coaches agreed with him, Don Shula among them.

“Instant replay has been working,” said Shula, who has coached the Miami Dolphins into five Super Bowls. “League (films) show that the calls by the officials (on the ground) have been 90% correct--and that 80% of the (bad calls) have been corrected by instant replay. Those are very persuasive numbers.”

But not to enough of the club owners. This is a league that has been drifting in recent years, critics say. They charge that it can no longer formulate coherent, consistent policy in any important area.

No owner has been able to step into the leadership void that was created by the 1989 departure of Tex Schramm of the Dallas Cowboys.

The one who led this week’s revolt, President Michael B. McCaskey of the Chicago Bears, speaks for a small segment of the league--but is not about to take over.

“We had to stop wasting time waiting for the (instant-replay) officials to act,” McCaskey said of his role in the biggest policy change of recent pro football history.

Shula cited NFL statistics that on the average, instant-replay procedures have been adding two minutes to the games.

“The price we paid was getting things right,” he said.

Dallas Coach Jimmy Johnson, who switched positions this year to join the McCaskey faction, was among those who felt victimized last season by instant-replay delays and reverses.

“We don’t have to agonize this year over questionable calls,” said Johnson, who on the sideline last year was left dangling in one game for nearly five minutes. “Now we can go about our business.”

On the other side of the debate, Chuck Knox, the new Ram coach who has been a consistent supporter of instant-replay officiating, said: “There was one seven-minute (delay) last year, and that’s what the fuss was about. But this is the wrong (remedy). I don’t want to beat anyone on a (bad call) that should have been reversed, and I sure as hell don’t want to lose to anyone on a (bad call).”

Raider owner Al Davis was more philosophical.

“If it was a step backward as (Finks and Shula) say, we only stepped backward for one year. I’m sure we’ll (restore) it in 1993.”

The problem, Finks and other executives said, is that the television announcers will now have a field day criticizing the league after controversial calls.

In reversing itself on instant-replay reversals, the NFL has tossed out a time bomb. If the Super Bowl game or any other big game is decided on what appears to be an erroneous call, the country will never hear the end of it from the broadcasters. Or from other media people.

“We’ll still have instant replay,” Finks said, “even though we’ve lost instant-replay officiating. We have some super critics who report our games, and they’ll belabor and belabor any (officiating mistake).”

For that reason, among others, Commissioner Paul Tagliabue had recommended an instant-replay extension again this year.

“Instant replay is a valuable adjunct to our game, but it does impose a price,” he told the club owners this week, meaning occasional game delays. “We have to recognize that and pay the price. On balance, it’s worth having.”

Of the 28 owners, 11 weren’t listening.

NFL Notes

Among the rule changes proposed Wednesday, the most imaginative was one by Kansas City owner Lamar Hunt. “We should outlaw the kneel-down formation play at the end of the half,” Hunt told the other owners, reminding them that they are in the entertainment business. “Every NFL team should be required to make a legitimate effort to advance the ball on every play.” When the owners, after listening to their coaches, raised hands, Hunt got only five votes. “The coaches are a suspicious lot,” he said afterward.

The NFL people who want brighter games--with shorter kickoffs, more kickoff runbacks and less wasted time between plays--also had a bad day. The owners, again on the advice of their coaches, voted to keep 45 seconds of dead time between plays. . . . Instead of abolishing the kickoff tee, which sets up end-zone kicks and effectively eliminates long returns, they voted to experiment with a one-inch tee for one exhibition weekend this summer. The tee in recent years had been shortened from three to two inches.

Recognizing that a high stadium noise level is unfair to visiting teams, the owners voted to experiment with helmet receivers and quarterback talk-only transmitters, but only in a couple of exhibitions this summer.

RELATED STORY: A1