NFL Replacement Refs

[Mark]

WHat is your thoughts on the controversery of the replacement Refs in the NFL?

Are they really screwing up the games that badly?

In a way, I am tuning into the games more than ever because I can't wait to see what calls they blow next.

[Chase]

I saw a nj lawmaker wanted to ban them in nj for games lol

[Joe Walther]

WHat is your thoughts on the controversery of the replacement Refs in the NFL?

Are they really screwing up the games that badly?

In a way, I am tuning into the games more than ever because I can't wait to see what calls they blow next.

At the outset, I am not a rabid NFL fan. I have nothing against football as a sport; it’s just that I’d much rather follow the local college teams than the professionals. So I don’t care if the NFL ever resolves this strike.

Also note that this is MY opinion. It’s based on what I’ve been able to discover in speaking with others who are much more knowledgeable about it than I am. As usual, mileages are going to vary.

But, as far as evaluating the quality of the replacements’ officiating goes, it should be done the same way as the quality of the professional officiating is done: as a group. And, on this basis, I think the officiating by the replacements is inferior.

Even the professionals blow calls occasionally. They’re usually not game-changers, though; and so, other than a few fans blowing a mental gasket, the storm blows over quickly.

When we evaluate the professional callers relative to instant replay, the call accuracy ratio of good calls to bad is easily 9 to 1, and perhaps even higher, in favor of the referees. If you do the same analysis with the replacements, it's not nearly as good, at least so far.

Another pertinent factor to consider is that the NFL sprinkles new officiating blood (unseasoned rookies) throughout their teams of officials during the regular season. However, they never make game assignments where the entire officiating team consists of untested rookies.

During this labor dispute, ALL of the game officials are virtually unseasoned and they’re not only making more routine errors as a percentage of the total calls than their professional counterparts normally make, they’re making game-changing errors at a much higher rate.

The fact is that fans, sports bloggers, and sports reporters/commentators can raise their indignant forefingers into the air poking it full of holes all they want, but it’s not going to do any good. The main sticking point here concerns defined pensions. NFL owners want to end them; the officials’ union wants to keep them.

The matter could be settled immediately through arbitration; but the owners will not agree to it because they know that they’d lose. There is no financially compelling reason to make an arbitrator rule in favor of the owners.

As it stands, NFL game officials are paid per game. Unlike professional baseball, there’s no such thing as “full-timers” with guaranteed salaries plus benefits. Other than the current fee per game, the only other expense is a contribution to some small defined pensions.

The most recent cost amounts to less than $100,000 a year per team, a virtual drop in the bucket compared to what some of these teams pay substandard physical has-beens as utility players.

I’ve read articles by sports commentators advocating a boycott of the NFL. Don’t buy tickets for the games; don’t buy NFL licensed wearing apparel or other memorabilia, etc.; and also boycott NFL sponsors.

But I doubt that this would work over a single season. It’s true that it would cost the owners a ton of money, not to mention how much it would cost the players and the innocent working stiffs that support the weekly endeavor.

The problem is, however, that a ton of money is not the end of the world when one considers that the owners’ total pool of money is measured in TONS rather than a ton.

[Josef]

When you've previously been officiating Division II & III college football games, moving up to the NFL is a HUGE step. With the size of the viewing audience (both in person and over the TV), and the egos of the stars, I can definitely see a lot of these guys cracking under the pressure.

[Bellicose]

Games are slower, bad calls happen yes, but some of these calls are just down right ridiculous. Over the weekend, there was an offensive holding call, guy just touched him with his hand to see where the cornerback was. There was an officials hat thrown on the field, which typically represents someone stepped out of bounds, receiver stepped on that hat, slipped and could not make the catch. Guy never stepped out of bounds, think the closest he was to being out of bounds was a yard. Then the INT that was called a TD, that cost a team the game. That is just this weekend.

Lingerie football league has said, some of the replacement refs, in the NFL right now, would not even make officials in their games.

Not sure where but there is a local eye doctor that is offering free eye exams to all the replacement refs. One guy is getting some special treatment from the eye doctor though, he offered him free Lasik surgery. No takers as of yet.

Exactly what Josef said, these guys made a huge jump to the NFL, and yeah some may be cracking under the pressure. But, some of them shouldn't even be given the chance. These were supposed to be some of the best College Officials, if these are some of the best, I hate to see the worst.

[Jessica]

Here's the question I asked myself after Monday's debacle (coming at the end of a weekend full of them): would I rather have a football season that's officiated by refs who are on a definite learning curve and will likely make mistakes, or would I rather have no football season at all?

I don't know about you guys, but I would rather have a season, regardless of the mistakes that are bound to be made. These guys stepped into big shoes that they knew they wouldn't be able to completely fill. Hell - the league had to have known that too. I have no doubt that they're trying their absolute best. No one wants to make their NFL debut and totally muck up a bunch of calls. They simply don't have the experience to get the calls right each and every time.

That being said, it would have been prudent if the league anticipated what everyone else did - that calls are going to be blown - and then made some concessions to make sure game-deciding decisions were somehow looked at with a little more scrutiny. Maybe a double check of certain calls by league officials prior to resuming play would have been in order. It's not too late to make some changes to ensure this kind of BS doesn't happen anymore.

[Joe Walther]

Games are slower, bad calls happen yes, but some of these calls are just down right ridiculous. Over the weekend, there was an offensive holding call, guy just touched him with his hand to see where the cornerback was. There was an officials hat thrown on the field, which typically represents someone stepped out of bounds, receiver stepped on that hat, slipped and could not make the catch. Guy never stepped out of bounds, think the closest he was to being out of bounds was a yard. Then the INT that was called a TD, that cost a team the game. That is just this weekend.

Lingerie football league has said, some of the replacement refs, in the NFL right now, would not even make officials in their games.

Some stuff snipped to save space...

This is all quite correct. However, I think it’s also beside the point. As I wrote, this time around it’s less about the money and more about ownership power. They could end this in a heartbeat without as much as a small scratch in their piggy banks.

But if you think Jerry Jones and his posse of fellow owners is going to back down over some irate fans and sports reporters, you need to think again. They’ll simply dump the blatant incompetents, hire less of them, and keep the decent ones.

They’ve circled the wagons and barricaded themselves with a wall of money. It’s like the days of old when wagon trains defended themselves with Gatling guns and repeating rifles as a small horde of whooping Indians charged their positions with bows and arrows.

They’ll ride this out. And when it’s over, all will be forgiven because, in the long run, the fans will not even remember it ever happened.

[Beau Stockard]

Joe,

When we evaluate the professional callers relative to instant replay, the call accuracy ratio of good calls to bad is easily 9 to 1, and perhaps even higher, in favor of the referees. If you do the same analysis with the replacements, it's not nearly as good, at least so far.

Absolutely; Union officials are better than amateur , non-union ones on all grounds.

The matter could be settled immediately through arbitration; but the owners will not agree to it because they know that they’d lose. There is no financially compelling reason to make an arbitrator rule in favor of the owners. ... I’ve read articles by sports commentators advocating a boycott of the NFL. Don’t buy tickets for the games; don’t buy NFL licensed wearing apparel or other memorabilia, etc.; and also boycott NFL sponsors.

The owners don't want a settlement because there is no compelling economic interest for them to want an end to the strike . Owners know that the fans will continue to fill the stadiums , increase future ticket sales, keep buying sports memorabilia and other by-products despite the inferior refs who get paid on a shoestring compared to professional refs. The Owners and their sports industry affiliates know that the commercialism of the sport has taken too deep a hold on the sports fan who will pay, and pay, and pay for pro-football entertainment and its many distractions. It would be very interesting to see what a Occupy the NFL would do if it captured the large majority of sports fans imagination. Do NFL owners even dare dream of such a total nightmare?

[Bellicose]

Tho think all of his is over a pension plan for the Refs. You know the people who are mainly doctors and lawyers. Seriously a pension plan, for something you only do what maybe half of the year. That's only if your one of the most trusted refs on top of that.

[Joe Walther]

Tho think all of his is over a pension plan for the Refs. You know the people who are mainly doctors and lawyers. Seriously a pension plan, for something you only do what maybe half of the year. That's only if your one of the most trusted refs on top of that.

The pension matter is the MAIN sticking point, not the only one. But to clarify something, all NFL game-day officials are part time. However, they make good money for the games in which they officiate. And some of them don’t get the call every week of the season.

A lifelong friend of mine has been doing it for several years. His day job is teaching; but he earns more in a single Sunday afternoon of NFL officiating than he does in two weeks of teaching.

Defined pensions are rapidly becoming dinosaurs. About the only places they're still in vogue are public universities and state/federal government. And even the universities are beginning a phase-out. State and federal government are at the rumbling stage.

The point is that people can be part time employees and still be enrolled in defined pensions; they just shouldn’t plan on living solely on the amount they’ll receive at retirement time.

Another friend of mine retired three years after I did. He’s collecting retirement funds from three different defined pensions. There’s no way in hell that he could live solely on the combined total of the pensions.

The money is not an issue for the NFL owners; their contribution amounts to a drop in a bucket. It is a big deal to the officials. While I doubt that any of them will be able to live on what they’ll receive as a result, it will help when combined with other funds.

But, I think they’re going to lose on this one with respect to both: income they’re losing in the short run during this strike and what they’ll probably lose in the long run in much the same way that air traffic controllers lost when they took on the late Ronald Reagan.

But, we’ll see.

[Josef]

ESPN is now reporting that an agreement to end the lockout has been reached, with regular officials possibly even doing Thursday night's game.

[longnecker]

NFL reaches tentative agreement with refs
By BARRY WILNER, AP Pro Football Writer – 8 minutes ago
NEW YORK (AP) — So long, replacement refs. The NFL's regular crews will be back on the field starting Thursday night.
After two days of marathon negotiations — and mounting frustration among coaches, players and fans — the NFL and the referees' union announced at midnight Thursday that a tentative agreement had been reached to end a lockout that began in June.
Commissioner Roger Goodell, who was at the bargaining table Tuesday and Wednesday, said the regular officials would work the Browns-Ravens game at Baltimore.
The tentative eight-year deal must be ratified by 51 percent of the union's 121 members. They plan to vote Friday and Saturday in Dallas.
"Welcome back REFS," Buffalo Bills running back C.J. Spiller tweeted shortly after the news broke.
The replacements worked the first three weeks of games, triggering a wave of outrage that threatened to disrupt the rest of the season. After a missed call cost the Green Bay Packers a win on a chaotic final play at Seattle on Monday night, the two sides really got serious.
"We are glad to be getting back on the field for this week's games," referees' union president Scott Green said.
The agreement hinged on working out pension and retirement benefits for the officials, who are part-time employees of the league. The tentative pact calls for their salaries to increase from an average of $149,000 a year in 2011 to $173,000 in 2013, rising to $205,000 by 2019.
Under the proposed deal, the current defined benefit pension plan will remain in place for current officials through the 2016 season or until the official earns 20 years' service. The defined benefit plan will then be frozen.
Retirement benefits will be provided for new hires, and for all officials beginning in 2017, through a defined contribution arrangement. The annual league contribution made on behalf of each game official will begin with an average of more than $18,000 per official and increase to more than $23,000 per official in 2019.
Beginning with the 2013 season, the NFL will have the option of hiring a number of officials on a full-time basis to work year round, including on the field. The NFL will have the option to retain additional officials for training and development purposes, and may assign those additional officials to work NFL games. The number of additional officials will be determined by the NFL

[Bellicose]

Huh, last I heard they weren't meeting until Friday, and were not even close to a deal. Hope the vote goes through and they're back.

[EpicWin]

I believe it is a done deal.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/27/sport/...html?hpt=hp_c1

[Curly]

[Bellicose]

Seen it on ESPN this morning after I posted. Sweet! Came right into work and told a coworker I told him so. He did not believe me when I said on Tuesday that by the first game of this week, the refs will have a deal. Damn if I was not right.

[Beau Stockard]

I believe it is a done deal.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/27/sport/...html?hpt=hp_c1

Good , you posted news of the NFL unionized refs deal with the owners from a reliable news source.

[Beau Stockard]