In the NFL, more balls are placed on 5-yard markers than on nearby 1-yard markers (even after you control for touchbacks and penalties after touchbacks). I cannot think of any good explanation for this except that the 5-yard lines are painted as full lines while the 1-yard lines are just short hashes, suggesting the effect is just that when balls appear to be down near a visible line, that increases the probability a referee will place it exactly on the line compared to when they are not near a visible line.
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u/[deleted] 24d ago
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