Replacement refs for regular season?

[dead_poet]

Big deal or not?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/f ... index.html

[Cliff]

I think it's a crappy thing to do to the refs but I don't think the game will suffer much from it. Which is probably why this is happening. In America when someone else is willing to do your job for less money and your company doesn't feel like they'll lose much value in switching, you'll get fired.

[jackal]

American companies have changed a lot in the last thirty years

[PurpleMustReign]

I think it's a crappy thing to do to the refs but I don't think the game will suffer much from it. Which is probably why this is happening. In America when someone else is willing to do your job for less money and your company doesn't feel like they'll lose much value in switching, you'll get fired.

There are a few really good refs, but most of them are not very good and miss some very obvious things. I am thinking replacement refs won't be as bad as the Ref's union thinks.

[Cliff]

There are a few really good refs, but most of them are not very good and miss some very obvious things. I am thinking replacement refs won't be as bad as the Ref's union thinks.

The qualifications for being a ref basically amounts to knowing the rules, understanding your role on the ref team, and having eyes. Certainly having experience actually watching the games makes a difference, but other than experience I can't see a huge difference from one ref to another. Even then, the current refs had to start somewhere.

[PurpleMustReign]

The qualifications for being a ref basically amounts to knowing the rules, understanding your role on the ref team, and having eyes. Certainly having experience actually watching the games makes a difference, but other than experience I can't see a huge difference from one ref to another. Even then, the current refs had to start somewhere.

Yeah but you have to admit that some crews are WAY better than others. Ed Hocchuli and Walt Anderson have the best two crews, IMO. I also like Mike Carey (I think that is his name). As for the others, I could take them or leave them.

[Mothman]

I actually think this a big deal and I don't understand why Goodell and the NFL are taking such a hard stance with the officials.

People complain about the quality of NFL officiating but those offials are still at the top of their profession. They're the best at what they do and I think we're kidding ourselves if we don't think there will be a significant drop in the quality of officiating if the NFL goes with replacements.

I'm not sure people are seriously considering the impact such a drop could have on games. The NFL's company line is, naturally, that everything will be fine but I doubt it. Some more info on this issue:

Early returns on replacement officials not good

Memo: NFL recruiting lower-division college ranks, semi-pro leagues for replacement refs

Complaints continue about replacement officials, Goodell sounds unconcerned

Minnesota Vikings, NFL turning to replacement officials, for better or worse

From the last link:

Pereira said he has seen the current roster of replacement officials. They are mostly Division II and III men or Division I castoffs, including three fired Pac-12 officials, with some high school referees.

In recent years, the NFL has in the name of player safety broadened penalties and supplemental discipline for helmet-to-helmet contact, roughing the quarterback and hits on defenseless receivers. Pereira expects replacement officials to overcompensate regarding player safety because league supervisors will beseech them to "throw the flag when in doubt."

No amount of training, however, can compensate for knowing what to look for and how to react when the strongest, fastest football players in the world collide, he said.

"NFL officials are the best 120 at what they do -- and they make mistakes," said Pereira, now a Fox Sports analyst. "At this level and at this speed, you cannot substitute over 1,400 years of experience with no experience and not expect the integrity of the game to be brought into question."

Pereira said first-year officials typically are assigned to veteran crews to help integrate them into the NFL. Rookies are not eligible to work playoff games, and a minimum five years' experience is required to earn a Super Bowl assignment.

One more:
Replacement officials poised to work HOF game

While Commissioner Roger Goodell downplayed the situation during a Friday appearance on The Dan Patrick Show, former NFL V.P. of officiating Mike Pereira has been sounding the alarm. On Wednesday’s Dan Patrick Show, Pereira reiterated his view that the situation could threaten the integrity of the game.

Pereira, who as Goodell pointed out actually took the striped shirt out of mothballs and got back on the field during the 2001 lockout, explained that the decision of Division I conferences to prevent their guys from moonlighting this time around means that the pool of replacements includes high-school officials, a pair of guys who were fired by the Pac-10 for poor performance, and officials from the Lingerie Football League.

[NextQuestion]

Hochuli is awful and his explanations for calls are novels. Bill Leavy's crew should be fired.

[Eli]

Hochuli is awful and his explanations for calls are novels. Bill Leavy's crew should be fired.

Just a couple of the more visible examples. I have little doubt that if you really wanted to, you could replace 90% of the 'real' officials with someone better. Calling them the best in the world is a joke. It's a part time job that has always paid poorly and attracts job candidates accordingly.

But what we're going to see are endless writeups and commentaries about how the poor officiating is affecting game outcomes. Which we could see every single weekend in the NFL, but we don't because nobody in the NFL front office appears to give a ####, and it quickly gets old.

[PurpleMustReign]

Hochuli is awful and his explanations for calls are novels. Bill Leavy's crew should be fired.

I disagree about Hochuli, his crew generally does a good job, IMO. I like Walt Anderson and Mike Carey the best. The rest of them are not high in my books.

[Mothman]

Just a couple of the more visible examples. I have little doubt that if you really wanted to, you could replace 90% of the 'real' officials with someone better. Calling them the best in the world is a joke.

If you consider it a joke to describe the NFL's officials as the best football officials in the world then please, enlighten us and tell us just where those officials are working? The NCAA? High School? Semi-pro football? Canada?

It's a part time job that has always paid poorly and attracts job candidates accordingly.

Former officials say that during the season, the NFL officials work 40+ hours a week. They definitely don't just show up on Sunday, officiate a game and then head off to their "day jobs" for the rest of the week.

I can see I'm wasting my virtual breath in this thread.

[Eli]

Former officials say that during the season, the NFL officials work 40+ hours a week. They definitely don't just show up on Sunday, officiate a game and then head off to their "day jobs" for the rest of the week.

No? How do you think they do their day jobs then?

[Mothman]

No? How do you think they do their day jobs then?

I think many of them probably have arrangements that enable them to put a little time into their other jobs during football season while spending a significant portion of their week reviewing film, conferencing with members of their crew (and the league office), traveling to games, etc. They make their own travel arrangements and have to arrive at least 24 hours before kickoff. This article about Walt Anderson provides some insight into how he spends his work week during the season:

http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archi ... l-spe.html

This article provides more detail about an NFL official's work week:

http://insidefootball.com/blog/archives/724

Again, even though they are part time employees, NFL officials do more than just show up and call a game every week.

I'm still wondering: where all the officials superior to the NFL refs working? If it's a joke to refer to the NFL crews as the best, that obviously implies the best are officiating football somewhere else, (and doing it so well that they are clearly superior).

[Eli]

I'm still wondering: where all the officials superior to the NFL refs working? If it's a joke to refer to the NFL crews as the best, that obviously implies the best are officiating football somewhere else, (and doing it so well that they are clearly superior).

It doesn't imply that at all. It means that you could find better officials if the job were full time and paid better. Do you realize what percentage of the U.S. population is able to perform their day job on part-time basis for six or seven months per year? It's infinitely small. Which means that the potential number of job candidates is extremely small.

The reason that it's not a full time job with better pay is exactly the same reason that the officials are out on strike right now. The NFL is too cheap to pay what the position should be paid. They don't care to find the best possible officials, either now during the strike or when the regular bunch is on the field.

[Cliff]

It doesn't imply that at all. It means that you could find better officials if the job were full time and paid better. Do you realize what percentage of the U.S. population is able to perform their day job on part-time basis for six or seven months per year? It's infinitely small. Which means that the potential number of job candidates is extremely small.

The reason that it's not a full time job with better pay is exactly the same reason that the officials are out on strike right now. The NFL is too cheap to pay what the position should be paid. They don't care to find the best possible officials, either now during the strike or when the regular bunch is on the field.

First year officials made an average of $78,000 in 2011. Ten year vets averaged $139,000 last year. I have my doubts that they're making more working in their "full time day jobs".

A lot of the disagreement comes from the NFL wanting to do away with pensions and what not.

The official stance of the refs was that they never threatened to strike in the first place, actually;
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/80130 ... er-planned