What Is Sign Stealing In Football?

People hold up signs on Texas sidelines to call plays during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game against New Mexico, Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012, in Austin, Texas.
(AP Photo/Eric Gay)
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In football, sign stealing is the process of decoding the signals shown on the other team’s sidelines in order to know what kind of play it might run before it happens. 

This is not a problem in the NFL, where plays are communicated to the offense via a communications unit inside of a player’s headset. 

But in college football and lower levels, where plays are often communicated via complex signs and codes, sign stealing could potentially yield a huge advantage for opposing defenses. 


As is the case in many sports, the details matter when it comes to accusations of cheating. It’s not necessarily illegal to break your opponents codes and steal their signs, but it does matter how you steal their signs.

If Team A cracks a sign code on Team B during a game, or in the ordinary course of preparing to play, that’s fair play. This is the case for many teams. If anything, Team B should be hiding its play calls better or utilizing a more complex sign code.

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About the Author Read More @chaseakiddy

Chase Kiddy is a senior writer for BetMGM who primarily covers college sports. He takes two things very seriously: board games and Las Vegas picks contests. He has previously written for a number of print and online outlets, including the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Washington Post, Daily News-Record, and HERO Sports.

Chase Kiddy is a senior writer for BetMGM who primarily covers college sports. He takes two things very seriously: board games and Las Vegas picks contests. He has previously written for a number of print and online outlets, including the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Washington Post, Daily News-Record, and HERO Sports.