NFL hires 24 full-time officials in second year of the program

  The NFL has hired 24 officials as full-time NFL employees for the 2018 season. Last year there were 21 full-timers. Some full-time officials from last year are not full-time officials this year. Up until 2017, all NFL officials were designated at part-time employees and worked full-time jobs outside of football (see table

Kickoff 2013: The officials by the numbers

Click the image to enlarge. It is time to kick off the new football season! Here are some numbers for all of the zebra watchers out there. Enjoy! Designed and researched by Ben Austro. Sources: NFL Record and Fact Book (2013, 2008, 2000); Pro-Football-Reference.com (Coleman, Freeman, McKinnely); Football Zebras, "Officiating crews for the

Riveron promoted to senior director of officiating

The first hire under the leadership of the new vice president of officiating, Dean Blandino, has brought Alberto Riveron into the league office as senior director of officiating. Adam Schefter reported the hire Tuesday morning. Riveron was in New York City in January to, presumably, interview for the vice-president position, when

NFL, referee union deal may be near

After a month of silence, the typical 11th hour negotiation cram sessions are now underway between the NFL and the NFL Referees Association. The game officials have been locked out since June 3, but negotiations have resumed today after sitting on ice for 34 days. Mike Arnold, lead negotiator for the

Full-time, more crews top issues for ref pact

A few days ago, I had a theory that the NFL wanted to make officials full-time and that it was a roadblock in the negotiations with the NFL Referees Association. The union referees have been replaced by the NFL until a collective bargaining agreement can be reached. Chris Mortensen and Adam