On Wednesday, the NFL Referees Association (NFLRA) and the league agreed on a plan to make hopefully 21 to 24 officials full-time. The 21 to 24 chosen won’t gain full-time status immediately, but instead will be phased in with some being approved before the season begins in September.
“I think they’re going to get plenty of applications,” NFLRA Executive Director Scott Green told Sports Illustrated.
The plan makes it possible for each of the seven field official positions to have a full-time member, but there won’t be more than five full-timers for each position. There are currently 124 officials in the NFL, so there will still be around 100 that aren’t considered “full-time.”
“They started talking about it back in May,” Green said. “And the concept for us was to get as many guys [full-time jobs] as possible. Initially the numbers were low, and there was a focus on just the referees, and we were encouraged that they were willing to look at additional people, and at all positions. We think it’s beneficial. Once that was on track, we got work tasks, their vision, and making sure it wasn’t compulsory.”
One major different between the part-time and full-time officials is that the full-timers will have to go to New York at least once a month and can be brought to New York even more than that with advanced noticed. Once they are in New York they’ll likely speak with Senior Vice President of Officiating Alberto Riveron and his team about officiating around the league.
“We’re happy to be able to come to an agreement, and we’re committed to making it work,” Green said. “Anything that helps the game, we’re 100 percent for that.”
