The Western Athletic Conference will forego implementing an instant replay system for reviewing officials' calls this football season.

Instead the conference is expected to experiment with it and prepare for a 2006 debut without employing it to review decisions.

Commissioner Karl Benson declined to confirm the decision for the moment, saying, "It is premature for me to speak to the issue. I will be prepared to discuss it at our media preview July 27."

The WAC's decision means nine of the 11 Division I-A conferences will employ instant replay on at least a limited basis this season, the first year that the NCAA has opened it to all conferences. Last year only the Big Ten was allowed to use it on an experimental basis. Conferences were given until last month to notify the NCAA of their intent.

The sticking point for the WAC, people in the conference say, is fairness. Without a sizeable financial outlay for equipment and manpower, the conference said it would not be able to implement it for non-TV games. Only about 16 to 20 of the WAC's 36 conference games are expected to be televised, meaning the schools would have to pick up the costs for the remainder or go without it.

Last month the WAC Board of Directors tabled a proposal that would have implemented instant replay this year. At the time Benson said a decision would be made within 30 days.

John Adams, editor and secretary of the NCAA football rules committee, said it will cost conferences "between $200,000 and $900,000" to implement instant replay this year depending on the method, equipment and number of games that aren't televised.

Adams said all but three of the Big Ten's games were televised last year, helping the conference keep expenses down.

This year the Sun Belt and WAC will experiment with it. The Sun Belt said it will confine its experiment to home games at two schools, North Texas and Louisiana-Lafayette. The Mid-American Conference said it will use its on about half its games and the remainder of the conferences will use it for all games.

Adams said only the Mountain West Conference will employ a challenge system in which coaches on he field may contest calls.

While some bowl games are considering instant replay, the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl will not use it this year, according to Pete Derzis, senior vice president for ESPN Regional Television, which owns and operates the game.