Press Release: NFL To Hire Up To 24 Full-Time Game Officials

[TK]

09, 2017

NFL TO HIRE UP TO 24 FULL-TIME GAME OFFICIALS     The NFL will hire up to 24 full-time game officials from among the current 124-person roster of officials, the NFL and NFL Referees Association (NFLRA) jointly announced today.    The NFL and NFLRA agreed to experiment with full-time officials as part of the last Collective Bargaining Agreement.  The decision to hire up to 24 such officials for 2017 is a collaborative initiative intended to promote the common goal of enhancing all aspects of NFL officiating –  scouting, training and mentoring, better understanding of current game trends, game preparation, and increased input on rules relating to player safety and game administration.    "We believe this is a great development for NFL officiating overall and ultimately the quality of our game," said NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations TROY VINCENT.  "We share a common goal, which is to make our game as great as it can possibly be, and look forward to working together on this new effort."    "NFL officials are always looking to improve, and we believe that additional time, particularly in the offseason, will be positive," said NFLRA Executive Director SCOTT GREEN.  "We're looking forward to working together with the league on this effort."    The program will permit current officials who wish to transition to a full-time role the opportunity to apply. The full-time officials that are hired – between 21 and 24 – will play an important role in enhancing communication and the flow of information to and from on-field officials, NFL Senior Vice President of Officiating ALBERTO RIVERON and the league's officiating supervisors.    The implementation throughout the 2017 season will provide the NFL Officiating Department, in consultation with the NFLRA, the opportunity to identify the most effective ways to utilize the off-field time for full-time game officials throughout the calendar year.    Full-time officials will be hired at each of the seven officiating positions and may serve on each of the 17 officiating crews. They will work collaboratively with their assigned crews, the league officiating staff and the NFL's football-related committees during the offseason.

[Rex Tomb]

Should've done this years ago. They should all be full time at the professional level.

[The Rook]

Best I could find about the money:

 

"Many officials already work about 40 hours a week, even though they're only part-time employees. They balance their NFL jobs with work as attorneys, insurance agents and teachers.

While it's unclear how much full-time officials will make, current officials earn between $75,000 and $200,000 for the season."

 

http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/09/news/companies/nfl-referees-full-time-hires/

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Rook

[Koolblue13]

I sure hope the NFL can afford this and they don't have to trim their budgets for something like player safety or retirement funds.

[Diehard Otis]

Okay.  Great.  The crux of the issue (as I see it) is for The League to staff their crews with 1) experienced hands 2) well versed in League Rules 3) that are accustomed to the speed of The Game on The Field.  

 

If full time Officials can best meet that standard, then I'm all for it.  But in the interest of preserving the integrity of The Game, that standard must be met.

[bobandweave]

At risk of coming across as a tin foil hat wearing member of the community, this my friends is a smoke screen. The crux of this issue is not that officiating sucks (we all know it does) or that the NFL wants it to get better, this has to do with a team moving to Vegas in two seasons. This is all about gambling and stopping the preconceived notion that officials can be bought off.

 

I see this as the NFL's way of getting in front of what happened to officials in the NBA before it does. Not as a reason to think the NFL is really going to look to change anything.

 

To really fix officiating it needs to start with transparency. Every time there is a game being played since the NFL will not announce who is officiating the games it helps the sports books. The NFL has refused to announce which referees will be officiating which games for many years. Why is that important? Because knowing who is going to officiate a game gives anyone paying attention a better idea of the likely penalties called in a game and an edge.

 

Say your a gambler, if you know one officiating crew won't call pass interference penalties but another group is much more likely that would tell you that the officials who don't call those penalties lean more towards lower scoring games and the reverse is true. If a group of officials will call a lot of penalties it means offensive drives will get more chances and more points are more likely to be scored especially with game changing penalties like pass interference which to me is still over the top. No other penalty can have a +50 yards to one team like this. Anyway knowing this before the games are played would give Joe public and edge.

 

What I want the NFL to do is not announce full time guys who cards? I want to know which officiating groups will call which games when the NFL week starts. That would reduce a major edge the sports books have on the betting public. Maybe with this announcement they will do that but I highly doubt it. The fact the NFL won't do this says there is smoke here to gambling ties to me.

 

As for the "standardization" of officiating personally don't think that will ever happen unless all plays are review-able and penalties can be handed out after a snap. Really how much can be looked at in 45 seconds? Too much is missed as it is (what's the old saying about calling holding on an offense every snap?) and if they want that to get better it starts with using the technology we have to use for us. Having full time officials won't change that because 7 guys can only see so much themselves. Giving another team the right to review any play for possible penalty would help. Having the NFL offices review every play and the authority to call penalties from one location to another would help. But simply having full time officials will not. How could it? Are they really saying

 

I mean it helps the officials as far as taxes and insurances purposes but this is not the answer to the NFL official problem to me. 

 

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

19 hours ago, Rex Tomb said:

Should've done this years ago. They should all be full time at the professional level.

I just don't get what full time officials are going to help.  They "work" essentially 20-30 games a year.  Do they really need 330 days to prepare for those 25-ish games?

 

If that's the case, that means the rules are too complicated.  So simplify the rules.

 

This has been an argument for a while, and I'm one of those that has always come down on the opposite side of the masses.  I WANT officiating to be better.  I don't see how in the name of all that is holy full time officials will help.  Unless they are running VR simulations 5 days a week, what the hell is being paid for sitting around on your tucus for 8 months going to do?

 

The only way this makes sense is that if there were enough officials that are full time that there are officials at every practice, walk through, etc. for every team, to give them the benefit of having things called by refs the way they would be called on game day.  

 

The other argument is that you want them full-time through Training Camp, the season, and some for the post-season.  That's essentially August through December.  So, if you want them to be full-time during that period, (and that I can buy, between watching additional film, spending more time with teams before games, etc.) then it's hard to get folks to take 4 months of vacation a year.  So, if you have to pay them full-time for the year so you secure their services for those 4 months, sure, I guess, whatever.  

 

I just don't think that being full time vs. not full time, for this sport that has a relatively short season, and few games, is going to help anything.  The way you improve the officiating is simplifying the rules, so we actually know what a catch is.

 

 

17 hours ago, Koolblue13 said:

I sure hope the NFL can afford this and they don't have to trim their budgets for something like player safety or retirement funds.

I'm sure they're going to both cut funding on safety and medical expenses and give Rodger a raise.  

[LD0506]

So are they going to hire fulltime staff to take care of the seeing eye dogs too?

[skinzplay]

This is a very good move by the league. The key is to have someone competent overseeing the operations of the officials, and to make sure that neither Biceps nor his disciple ascend to that post.

[thebluefood]

On 8/9/2017 at 9:58 PM, Koolblue13 said:

I sure hope the NFL can afford this and they don't have to trim their budgets for something like player safety or retirement funds.

With all the money they rake in, you'd think they could afford all of the above and still have enough for steak dinner every night

[CTskin]

They need to hire an extra official at every game who stays in the booth who not only handles all reviews, but also has the ability to overrule egregious penalties. (I'm thinking about the 15 yard helmet-to-helmet flags that after a quick glance at a replay are obviously helmet-to-shoulder).

 

The league needs to do more about penalizing refs for incorrect, game-changing calls... I shouldn't have just watched a documentary about premier league match fixing.

[Reaper Skins]

I wish teams could have their own official on game days.  Each team would be given a league sanctioned ref whose sole job is to watch their team's opponent and ensure that they are following the rules.  Like a gameday, on field lawyer for each team.  This would lead to rule familiarity between the coaches and players and hopefully a clearer understanding of what is or is not allowed on gameday.  

 

It would also help keep a team from getting unfairly targeted by giving equal representation during the game, almost like a lawyer for the defendant and a lawyer for the prosecution in a courtroom.  During the week and on gameday your players and coaches could always have access to your team official and use him for clarification, ask whether this or that is allowed, tell him if someone on the other team is doing something illegal and to watch for it, etc.

 

So on game day you'd have one ref working for only the home team, making sure they get fair calls and that their opponent isn't getting away with any illegal tactics.  One ref doing the same for the away team.  And a third/floating/impartial ref for tie breakers and overruling anything that came across as favoritism.  Refs would spend an entire season with one team, then rotate to a new one the next year.

 

Imagine having a ref who the coach could talk to all week when studying film and say:  "We want to try this crazy trick play on Sunday, is it legal?"  Or, "this teams linemen are consistently starting offsides and jumping the gun, watch for that on Sunday", or "My player has a touchdown celebration he wants to do, will this be a fine or is it ok?" or "the other ref keeps calling illegal motion on us, but its not and here's why, go explain to the arbiter judge what were doing and why its actually legal"

 

[OVCChairman]

22 hours ago, Reaper Skins said:

I wish teams could have their own official on game days.  Each team would be given a league sanctioned ref whose sole job is to watch their team's opponent and ensure that they are following the rules.  Like a gameday, on field lawyer for each team.  This would lead to rule familiarity between the coaches and players and hopefully a clearer understanding of what is or is not allowed on gameday.  

 

It would also help keep a team from getting unfairly targeted by giving equal representation during the game, almost like a lawyer for the defendant and a lawyer for the prosecution in a courtroom.  During the week and on gameday your players and coaches could always have access to your team official and use him for clarification, ask whether this or that is allowed, tell him if someone on the other team is doing something illegal and to watch for it, etc.

 

So on game day you'd have one ref working for only the home team, making sure they get fair calls and that their opponent isn't getting away with any illegal tactics.  One ref doing the same for the away team.  And a third/floating/impartial ref for tie breakers and overruling anything that came across as favoritism.  Refs would spend an entire season with one team, then rotate to a new one the next year.

 

Imagine having a ref who the coach could talk to all week when studying film and say:  "We want to try this crazy trick play on Sunday, is it legal?"  Or, "this teams linemen are consistently starting offsides and jumping the gun, watch for that on Sunday", or "My player has a touchdown celebration he wants to do, will this be a fine or is it ok?" or "the other ref keeps calling illegal motion on us, but its not and here's why, go explain to the arbiter judge what were doing and why its actually legal"

 

That sounds interesting, and intriguing.. It would be to the NFL's best interest to have an official dedicated to a team, and I know teams have brought refs in during camps and stuff to act as game officials during scrimmages.  I don't see how it could hurt, other then paying them. 

[Mania]

Definitely interesting.  Hopefully one of the requirements is sight, because the current refs are blind.