The first NFL full-time officials are being hired by the league next year in a move that will also increase game officiating crews from seven to eight.
Troy Vincent, the NFL’s vice president of football operations, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he plans to hire up to 17 full-time officials in the off-season, which is now allowed under the collective bargaining agreement.
“This is a topic of discussion daily,” Vincent said, per AP.
According to Vincent, the NFL is already receiving input from coaches, general managers and owners across the league, but they still have some more consulting to do with the league’s Referees Association, AP noted.
Vincent says the new move hasn’t been finalized just yet, but full-time officials will be a major topic when the NFL’s competition committee meets in February following the Super Bowl, Bleacher Report noted.
NFL officiating has been a major topic of discussion since Week 1 of the regular season when the league announced that officials “missed an illegal hit to Panthers quarterback Cam Newton’s head” in a season-opening game between the Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos, said The New York Times.
“It’s really taking the fun out of the game for me,” Newton said, per the Charlotte Observer’s Joseph Person. “At times, I don’t even feel safe. And enough is enough. I plan on talking to Commissioner [Roger] Goodell about this. And I don’t know what I have to do.”
During an episode of PFT Live in November, New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton supported the notion of full-time NFL officials, according to Pro Football Talk.
“The system currently hasn’t improved. We say it has, but it hasn’t,” Payton said. “We’re the only league with officials who have primary other jobs, which is really madness. We can pay these guys. They should be full-time NFL officials, and they should be working throughout the week, communicating. Every other sports league employs full-time officials. And ours, these guys all have other significant jobs. I just think it’s very difficult to do.”