xwalker
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A very good article about the issues:
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id...re-replay-help-jersey-number-flexibility-more
Blue text is from the article.
Black text is my comments.
Instead of creating a full-time sky judge or a booth umpire, owners decided to formalize communication on a limited menu of calls from the replay official to referees.
The last paragraph of the article is really at the core of the officiating problem:
"This is where officials, the referees are all involved, felt like they wanted to maintain control of the game," said Troy Vincent, the NFL's executive vice president of football operations. "The game should be called on the field with the support of the replay official in the stadium as well as New York when appropriate."
The NFL Referees Association is the Refs Union.
- The replay officials are not in the union.
- Only the on-field refs are in the union.
- The union has resisted replay at every step and continues to resist it as much as possible.
- The NFL will not "Go to war the the union" and instead just whittles away at the problems gradually each year.
This concept exacerbates the desire for the on-field refs to "Be in control".
Control is not the only issue.
- The union does not want to progress to the point that less on-field officials are used and replaced by video refs.
- In reality, with modern technology, the on-field refs are really only needed to maintain control of the game and communicate with coaches/players.
- All of the actual officiating could be done by video.
- The available technology could almost completely eliminate bad calls if used correctly.
Another blurb from the article:
The advance of technology and broadcast quality have laid bare the mistakes and missed calls that historically went unseen, a threat to competitive integrity that will only shine brighter as the league begins to embrace gambling.
The NFL embracing gambling might be the ultimate solution to the officiating problem.
- If Gambling entities get a voice in the process, then the NFL's lackadaisical approach to bad calls will have to change.
More blurbs from the article:
More help from replay official
The NFL has been wrestling for years with the reality that television viewers sometimes have a better view of plays than any of the seven officials on the field. The advance of technology and broadcast quality have laid bare the mistakes and missed calls that historically went unseen, a threat to competitive integrity that will only shine brighter as the league begins to embrace gambling.
Coaches have pushed for adding an eighth official to each crew and assigning them to a stadium suite with access to broadcast feeds and toggle technology. For now, however, owners and competition committee members consider the idea to be both fantasy -- they don't think there are enough qualified candidates -- and an intrusion on the basic tenet that games should be officiated on the field.
What can the replay official weigh in on?
• Penalty enforcement, proper down, spot of a foul, game clock or possession
• Completed or intercepted pass
• Touching of a loose ball, boundary line, goal line or end line
• Location of the football or a player in relation to the boundary line, the line of scrimmage, the line to gain or the goal line
• Down by contact (when a player is not ruled down by contact on the field)
The furthest they are willing to go is allowing the existing replay official, who already sits in a stadium suite but is limited to assistance on plays that are reviewed, to advise referees in a handful of other "specific, objective aspects of a play when clear and obvious video evidence is present," according to the rule.
Replay officials, for example, can now advise referees if they see the ball bounce off the ground on what was ruled a completed catch. If the affected coach does not challenge the call, the referee can listen to the replay official's information and decide to change the ruling. They will not, for example, be able to point out mitigating factors on subjective calls such as pass interference.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id...re-replay-help-jersey-number-flexibility-more
Blue text is from the article.
Black text is my comments.
Instead of creating a full-time sky judge or a booth umpire, owners decided to formalize communication on a limited menu of calls from the replay official to referees.
The last paragraph of the article is really at the core of the officiating problem:
"This is where officials, the referees are all involved, felt like they wanted to maintain control of the game," said Troy Vincent, the NFL's executive vice president of football operations. "The game should be called on the field with the support of the replay official in the stadium as well as New York when appropriate."
The NFL Referees Association is the Refs Union.
- The replay officials are not in the union.
- Only the on-field refs are in the union.
- The union has resisted replay at every step and continues to resist it as much as possible.
- The NFL will not "Go to war the the union" and instead just whittles away at the problems gradually each year.
This concept exacerbates the desire for the on-field refs to "Be in control".
Control is not the only issue.
- The union does not want to progress to the point that less on-field officials are used and replaced by video refs.
- In reality, with modern technology, the on-field refs are really only needed to maintain control of the game and communicate with coaches/players.
- All of the actual officiating could be done by video.
- The available technology could almost completely eliminate bad calls if used correctly.
Another blurb from the article:
The advance of technology and broadcast quality have laid bare the mistakes and missed calls that historically went unseen, a threat to competitive integrity that will only shine brighter as the league begins to embrace gambling.
The NFL embracing gambling might be the ultimate solution to the officiating problem.
- If Gambling entities get a voice in the process, then the NFL's lackadaisical approach to bad calls will have to change.
More blurbs from the article:
More help from replay official
The NFL has been wrestling for years with the reality that television viewers sometimes have a better view of plays than any of the seven officials on the field. The advance of technology and broadcast quality have laid bare the mistakes and missed calls that historically went unseen, a threat to competitive integrity that will only shine brighter as the league begins to embrace gambling.
Coaches have pushed for adding an eighth official to each crew and assigning them to a stadium suite with access to broadcast feeds and toggle technology. For now, however, owners and competition committee members consider the idea to be both fantasy -- they don't think there are enough qualified candidates -- and an intrusion on the basic tenet that games should be officiated on the field.
What can the replay official weigh in on?
• Penalty enforcement, proper down, spot of a foul, game clock or possession
• Completed or intercepted pass
• Touching of a loose ball, boundary line, goal line or end line
• Location of the football or a player in relation to the boundary line, the line of scrimmage, the line to gain or the goal line
• Down by contact (when a player is not ruled down by contact on the field)
The furthest they are willing to go is allowing the existing replay official, who already sits in a stadium suite but is limited to assistance on plays that are reviewed, to advise referees in a handful of other "specific, objective aspects of a play when clear and obvious video evidence is present," according to the rule.
Replay officials, for example, can now advise referees if they see the ball bounce off the ground on what was ruled a completed catch. If the affected coach does not challenge the call, the referee can listen to the replay official's information and decide to change the ruling. They will not, for example, be able to point out mitigating factors on subjective calls such as pass interference.
