ATLANTA — NFL owners ratified changes to the kickoff in what amounts to a last-ditch effort to make the play safer before possibly eliminating it from the sport altogether.
The owners’ approval of the modifications, proposed by the NFL’s rulemaking competition committee after consultation with special teams coaches from around the league, came in a vote taken Tuesday at the owners’ two-day spring meeting in an Atlanta hotel.
The changes were ratified on a one-year trial basis, a possible signal that the league and the owners will evaluate the effectiveness of the modifications before deciding whether kickoffs should be eliminated.