NFL Should Make Refs Full-Time Employees

When Mike Pereira speaks, everybody in the NFL should listen. The Fox Sports rules analyst says it’s time for the league to hire its part-time referees as full-time employees. After another weekend filled with head-scratching calls by the zebras, it’s hard to argue with the original TV rules analyst.

As I wrote months ago, NFL officials frequently ruined the television viewing experience for fans this year. Too many game telecasts were marred by ticky-tack or questionable calls. It got to the point where every time there was a big play, you held your breath to see whether there were any flags. Too often, there was no pace, no flow to the telecast. There was no consistency in the calls from game to game. And a baffling lack of transparency by the league.

Fan frustration reached a crescendo Saturday during the CBS telecast of the Bills-Broncos AFC divisional playoff game. Like millions of viewers, I thought Brandin Cooks of the Bills caught the pass from Josh Allen and was down by contact. Sorry, said the refs. Don’t believe your lying eyes. By the byzantine rules of the NFL it was actually a strip and an interception by Ja’Quan McMillian of the Broncos. Even famed defensive back Richard Sherman wasn’t buying the call. Bye-bye, Bills. 

Cue the video of a weeping Allen at the podium and distraught Bills players in the locker room. The refs effectively ended Sean McDermott’s job as Bills coach after nine seasons. To rub salt in the wound of fuming Buffalo fans, Davante Adams of the Rams was involved in a nearly identical play the next day during Bears-Rams. A different crew of officials called it a completion. Nobody batted an eye. Moreover, the league’s explanation that it has an entire staff of instant replay officials handling such calls came as a surprise to some NFL clubs, noted ProFootballTalk.

During an interview with columnist Scott Fowler of The Charlotte Observer, Pereira said the 17 referees who lead NFL officiating crews should be full-time employees. Put them all in the same office year-round, said Pereira. That way they can train together, commiserate and hopefully improve performance and consistency. 

“I think it’s time to look at full-time officials. Not everyone. But I do believe that the person that represents the crew in the field, the guy in the white hat, the referee—I think those 17 people should be full-time working together all year,” said Pereira. “Not going home in between games, but going to an officiating institute and breaking down all the games together, so the messages are consistent. … I’m not a fan of making everyone full-time, but make the referees full-time. To me, it’s time for that.”

Pereira had another interesting proposal. What about the NFL adopting the college football defensive pass interference (DPI) rule of a 15-yard penalty and automatic first down, he asked. A 15-yard call would be more in line with other big penalties, he noted. And it would eliminate the questionable 40-yard to 50-yard DPIs that cause fans to break their TV sets. 

“In real times, it’s the hardest call on the field to make, in my opinion. And it adds an element of pressure on the officials,” Pereira noted.

The 75-year-old served as an NFL ref and the league’s VP of officiating before becoming the first TV rules analyst in 2010. The opportunity is coming to turn Pereira’s suggestion into a reality. 

The league’s collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Referees Association expires in May. If the primary reason the league doesn’t want to make refs full-time employees is they don’t want to pay, then that’s penny-wise and pound-foolish.

The NFL is on a heater TV-wise, with regular-season viewership reaching a 37-year high of 18.7 million per game. It’s the most popular sports league, and by far the most popular brand in all of entertainment. About the only thing that could derail the NFL would be a betting scandal. As Sports Illustrated NFL writer Albert Breer told Dan Patrick, the league is playing with fire by ignoring growing fan suspicions over officiating. 

Public trust in NFL refs is at an all-time low, Breer noted. At a time when the NFL and teams are pocketing millions from sports betting operators, the last thing they want is for fans to start asking whether the fix is in. 

“I really think that they need to go in this offseason and tear the thing down to the studs,” Breer told Patrick. “Take all the technology available, take the crews they have available, maybe add sky judges to each crew, and rebuild it all together. I just think what’s happening right now flat out isn’t working in the eyes of the public—and the public trust is such an important thing for a professional sport.”

Here’s the bottom line. Does the NFL want to tarnish its golden brand by “Fail Mary”-like controversy by part-time refs who go back to selling cars the day after the Super Bowl? Or even the whiff some flag-happy refs are on the take? 

No, it doesn’t. Neither do the TV networks and streamers paying $111 billion for live game rights. The NFL is the best at almost everything. So invest in quality and training with the refs. If shelling out a few million in salary to refs to make them better at the jobs is the cost, then I call that a small price to pay. Wake up, NFL. It’s later than you think.