COMMENTARY : Officials’ Ratings Better in NFL ’92

Is it just an illusion or--as many NFL coaches and executives have suggested--is NFL officiating really better in 1992?

“Independent of instant replay, our philosophy is that we’re not always perfect, but we try to be excellent because we try to be perfect,” said Jerry Seeman, who is in his second season as the league’s director of officiating. “Compared with last year, we have documented a significant reduction in the number of (incorrect) calls.”

There have been some theories as to why. The most popular one is that the suspension of instant replay has allowed officials to be more in control--at least psychologically--during games. However, Seeman believes it also may have to do with on-field officials being a little more deliberate with their calls.

“One thing we have worked very carefully on is that every time an official goes to make a call, we want them to read the play first and then make the call,” Seeman says. “In being more deliberate, it allows an official to run through a thought process. If he goes too quick, now he can’t take it back. That seems to be working better this year.”

If the officiating has improved, the starting point is at “mission control,” Seeman says. The 2-year-old officiating facility on the seventh floor of the NFL’s Park Avenue offices in New York has state-of-the-art video equipment and is where Seeman and his full-time staff of five meticulously study and evaluate all game officials.

“What we try to do is complete a master training program for all our officials,” Seeman says. “The objective is to improve each official, each game, each season. This facility is beautiful. We have worked hard to create an environment that enables us to train our officials.”

The typical week in the NFL officiating process:

MONDAY: Seeman and his staff get organized for the evaluation of 106 officials who worked games the previous Sunday. All NFL clubs are required to provide the game tapes they use (sideline and end zone) exclusively for coaches and players. These tapes usually provide the best possible angles. The league staff also receives the play-by-play sheets from the games, on which an “observer” has marked the penalties and questionable calls. On any questionable calls, the staff asks NFL Films to provide footage of the plays. Television tape also is on hand, giving the league three sources of visual material for its evaluation.

TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY: Each member of Seeman’s full-time staff is required to spend seven hours in evaluation of each game in “mission control.” Each of the seven officials assigned to a game is evaluated on every play in regard to judgment, interpretation and mechanics. When there are very questionable calls, the entire group will assemble at the end of the room for a group evaluation on a large screen.

The game officials are required to take a weekly rules exam.

THURSDAY AND FRIDAY: The evaluation reports are completed. Seeman and Jack Reader, the assistant director of officiating, edit a training tape of four or five tough plays from each game for each official. “If there’s good mechanics on a play, we’ll point that out as being the correct way to call it,” Seeman says. “Or if there’s an error, we’ll tell them why it shouldn’t happen and ways to correct it.”

SATURDAY: The officiating crews travel to their assigned game sites. The referee of each crew distributes the training tapes and evaluation reports for all members to review. They also watch the previous game played by each team for the game they are assigned.

SUNDAY: The officials report to the stadium more than 2 hours, 15 minutes before kickoff. They then go over the weekly rules exam. In a pregame meeting, they have an assigned topic to discuss “such as double fouls, pass interference, spotting the ball,” Seeman says. At game time, the officials are on their own.

Officials who live near one another generally get together once in the middle of the week.

At the end of the season, all of the officials are evaluated. Those who fail to meet the criteria are released.

Seeman says that the NFL competition committee has helped streamline the rulebook the past two years to make the officials’ jobs easier.

“The committee has given us great support,” Seeman says. “They have simplified rules that dealt more with philosophy and that concept has really helped the officials on the field. In the past, the NFL rulebook was like an inverted pyramid where, gosh, you start here, if this happens, then turn left, then right. We have really improved this.”

Officials also are required to be in good physical condition. “Officials must work out two or three times a week,” Seeman says. “There are physical requirements and weight limitations. We watch this closely.”

There has been a growing demand that the league should make half or more of its officials full-time employees. The league has determined that it would lose many of its better officials, some of whom have lucrative jobs.

According to league data obtained by , the projected average annual compensation (officials are paid on a per-game basis) for game officials is $28,300. The total cost for the 106-man roster (compensation, air fare, expense and fringe benefits) is $7.13 million.

If the league hired full-time officials in 1993, its report shows that a base annual compensation of $80,000 would bring the total cost to $15,357,400; a $100,000 base salary would boost the sum to $18,749,400; a $120,000 base would run it to $21,081,400. Other startup costs to employ a full-time staff and set up facilities would cost an additional $15 million to $21 million.

Then again, if instant replay is gone for good, there might be a little money to spread around. The league saved $1.376 million in the budget by not using instant replay in 1992.