NFL HIGHLIGHTS on Instagram: "The technology debuted in 1998, not directly by ESPN but by a company called Sportvision during an ESPN broadcast. • The first-ever use of the virtual first down line was on September 27, 1998, during an ESPN Sunday Night Football game between the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals. ESPN was the first network to put it on the air, but the credit for inventing and implementing it goes to Sportvision, founded by Stan Honey and others."