{"id":566195,"date":"2026-04-05T15:07:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T15:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/566195\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T15:07:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T15:07:07","slug":"whos-to-blame-for-officiating-deficiencies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/566195\/","title":{"rendered":"Who’s to blame for officiating deficiencies?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In less than two months, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has gone from being \u201cso amazed at how good our officials are<\/a>\u201d to being so intent on improving officiating<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So who\u2019s to blame for the actual or perceived deficiencies in officiating?<\/p>\n

As one high-level team source recently explained it to PFT, speaking on condition of anonymity given the league\u2019s zip-it mandate<\/a> regarding the ongoing labor strife with the NFL Referees Association, the officials haven\u2019t failed the league but the league has failed the officials.<\/p>\n

The claim is backed up by objective facts contained in the NFL-NFLRA Collective Bargaining Agreement covering 2019 through 2026, a copy of which PFT has obtained and reviewed.<\/p>\n

The NFL has had, throughout the term of the current CBA, the ability to hire up to 17 game officials as full-time employees. The NFL has never taken full advantage of its power to employ 17 full-time officials. <\/p>\n

The number seventeen surely wasn\u2019t picked randomly. The NFL could have made all 17 referees full-time employees. One per crew. The leader of each crew. That\u2019s the next best thing to making all officials full-time employees.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear why all 17 referees weren\u2019t made full-time employees since 2019. One possible explanation is money.<\/p>\n

Under Section 24 of the CBA, the full-time officials would have been paid \u201ca total annual compensation amount which is comparable to the annual earnings of full time officials at the same years of service in other professional sports leagues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Likewise, Section 9(g) of the CBA contemplates the creation of a game officials training and evaluation program. The goal was to implement it by 2020, at the latest. The league agreed to hire a vice president of training and development, who would be responsible for designing and implementing a comprehensive training and development program for game officials.<\/p>\n

The league has had multiple vice presidents of training and development. As we understand it, the NFL has never fully developed the contemplated training and evaluation program.<\/p>\n

Finally, as to the NFL\u2019s P.R.-driven focus on the NFLRA\u2019s insistence on preserving the dead period from the end of the season through May 15, the current CBA already allows it to be partially disrupted. Under Section 9(f), new officials are required to attend a five-day orientation program, which can happen after April 1.<\/p>\n

How aggressively has the NFL utilized the power it already has to improve officiating? There aren\u2019t 17 full-time officials. The training and development program apparently has not become what it was intended to be. And there\u2019s already a vehicle for putting new officials to work during the dead period.<\/p>\n

The current posturing from 345 Park Avenue implies that the officials are the reason for a level of performance that went from so amazing to so inept between early February and late March. It\u2019s no surprise; as the source put it, the NFL is simply trying to bully the officials into taking the last, best offer the NFL makes.<\/p>\n

The P.R. effort is part of it. The effort to hire replacement officials is part of it. The changing of the rules to allow for expanded replay in the event of a work stoppage is part of it.<\/p>\n

The NFL likes to win at every bargaining table. It usually does. Which makes it even more intent to do so in the latest negotiations with the NFL Referees Association.<\/p>\n

And the clear message to the NFL Players Association is this: You\u2019re next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In less than two months, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has gone from being \u201cso amazed at how good…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-566195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}