Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press
More than 50 cameras blanketed the Superdome on Sunday afternoon, ensuring endless angles and replays of every highlight from the N.F.C. championship game between the New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Rams.
At stake was a trip to next month’s Super Bowl, but when the officials needed a replay most, the N.F.L.’s complicated rules for what is and is not subject to video review prohibited them from watching one, even in the midst of a game that cost tens of millions of dollars to produce and is among the most watched events on television.