Before that time if a punt landed out of bounds the punting team was assessed a penalty (although I forgot how many yards) and there was a re-kick. Reasonable.
But with the new rule the sideline officials now had to determine where exactly the punted ball crossed some imaginary out-of-bounds line in the sky. ...a pure guessing game. They could be 10-15 yards off in their assessement and no one would blink an eye, because it's impossible to prove them wrong.
And the rule stays in place to this day.
Wow. I had no clue. I’m with you on that “marking the out of bounds placement” when it is airborn. I’ve always wondered how they figgered that out.