Lepore replaced the retired John McDonough, the referee for Super Bowl IV and the NFL's longest game, the 1971 Christmas Day playoff between the Dolphins and Chiefs which lasted 82 minutes, 40 seconds.
McCarter succeeded Jack Reader, who left the field to become chief lieutenant to NFL Director of Officiating Art McNally at league headquarters in New York.
[12] Chief among these was Joe Robbie, owner of the world champion Miami Dolphins, who objected that the changes were "frankly intended to tip the scales toward passing and against running.
"[12] In addition to its sweeping changes to playing rules, the NFL eliminated the "future list" ("taxi squad") of players a team could sign without placing them on an active roster.
[13] Don Meredith left ABC to join NBC's lead broadcast team of Curt Gowdy and Al DeRogatis in their own three-man booth.
NBC also hired the then-recently retired quarterback John Brodie to replace Kyle Rote as the network's #2 color commentator, alongside Jim Simpson.