https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2017/8...employ-full-time-referees-for-2017-and-beyond
NFL will employ up to 24 full-time referees for 2017 and beyond.
Full-time jobs mean big pay raises for the men in stripes.
SBNation
Will full-time officials make a difference? On Wednesday, the NFLRA ratified the implementation of full-time officials that the league had sought for quite some time. And the referee’s union did it thanks to two pretty significant concessions that should at least help the NFL avoid the pool of qualified officials thinning out: 1) An official can’t be compelled to go full-time; and 2) Full-time officials can maintain outside employment, provided the NFL remains that official’s primary employer.
The concern from the jump with going to full-time officials was that many of the most qualified guys were also the most accomplished off the field, and, as such, the most likely to leave officiating if they were forced to focus completely on football. As it was negotiated, those officials can now either say “no” if they’re recruited to go full-time or keep their toe in another pool if they want to do it. To me, that’s a sensible solution to give the NFL the dedicated group it wanted while making sure the larger group is as strong as possible.
Some more details from the agreement? The set-up—ensuring that each field position is represented among the 21-24 full-timers and no more than five come from any one spot—should give the league a wide range of perspectives from game action. And to be sure of it, those employed will have to engage at the league level. The full-timers will be at meetings for the competition committee, general managers advisory committee, coaches’ subcommittee and player safety advisory panel. They’ll also be at the league office once a month, work OTAs and minicamps, help mentor new officials, participate in college and high school officiating clinics, scout lower-level officials, work at least one game day with Alberto Riveron and Co. on Park Ave., do video review work, and keep a constant dialogue with the league office. That’s just in case you were wondering how they’ll fill all the time.
“In-season, there isn’t a whole more that guys can do other than what they’re required to do to get ready for the next—studying video, looking at tendencies and all that,” said NFLRA executive director Scott Green. “The big difference for them will be during the dark period (designated time off for all part-timers that runs from the end of the season until May 15).”
So what difference will you be able to see? As I wrote Wednesday, the league hopes that, through improved communication, the immediate affect will be more consistency from crew to crew. We’ll see if that much is visible.
SI
