Normally when they say its not about the money, its about the money. This time may be different. The nine billion dollar a year NFL is not as concerned about $160,000 official salaries going to $180,000 or even the pension issues the refs representatives brought to the table as they may be be about who holds the power. If a players strike did not stop league games from being played a few years ago, a work stoppage by officials had no shot at disrupting this season. The commissioner and owners are proving a point as to who holds the power.
Joson Whitlock on the Loose Cannons radio show yesterday said he saw bad calls all last season so he is not troubled by replacement refs. Another viewpoint is some players or teams will try to take advantage of inexperienced officials (Cheat? see Payton/Vilma). It seems after some checking there are some high school officials slated to call games this weekend. Mike Pereira Fox's NFL rules guy claims its difficult to find 100 qualified refs.
The reality is they only need 13 to 16 qualified rules experts. Put them in the booth with replay monitors and microphones to the field and proceed. They can direct field officials where top spot the ball, overrule bad calls and administer any 10 second runoffs everyone seems so concerned about. Actually, this may speed up the game since it would keep the referee out from under the hood!
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