Or at least as permanently as any rule can be in pro football.

League owners voted 30-2 today to make the video replay system to aid officiating a permanent tool. All but three stadiums will be equipped with high-definition equipment and will be recabled before the upcoming season. The stadiums being replaced in Irving, Texas, Indianapolis and East Rutherford, N.J., will not get the updates.

"It's a long time coming," said Atlanta Falcons general manager Rich McKay, co-chairman of the competition committee that recommended the change. "It made sense to us this year to do it. Instant replay is an accepted part of the game. It's what we are. There was not really much discussion about it."

Cincinnati and Arizona voted against the proposal, as they nearly always do on replay issues.

The owners also voted unanimously to allow a second interviewing window for assistant coaches on Super Bowl teams who are in the running for other head coaching jobs. Previously, only during the week after the season ended could an interview be conducted.

The coach's current team would have to grant permission for the second interview, which would take place during the bye week after the conference title games.

"We wanted to make sure that coaches on Super Bowl teams didn't feel it was a disadvantage," McKay said.

One proposal was defeated. Defenses will not be allowed to have a coach-to-player communications device similar to what quarterbacks use. McKay said owners and coaches were concerned about who would be allowed to wear the device with defenses using multiple formations, and the possibility that more than one player could wind up on the field with such a device.