The NFL is really paddling in dangerous waters with the lockout of the officials. The league can't go on saying that the replacement officials are doing a fine job. They most certainly aren't. The games that I saw yesterday were a mess. The timeout fiasco in the Minnesota Vikings-San Francisco 49ers just can't happen. It wasn't a judgement issue. It was a not knowing the rules issue. My guess is that 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh strong armed the officials into making a mockery of the rule book. No matter how persuasive Harbaugh might be five timeouts to one team in one half has to raise some flags in the mind of an NFL official. It looked like a civil war was about to break out in the Baltimore Ravens-New England Patriots game. Funny that the this game also involved a Harbaugh. A coincidence really. Both brothers are excellent coaches. I didn't see all of the Ravens-Patriots game but going by the words of broadcasters Cris Collinsworth and Al Michaels as well as what I did see that game was an even bigger mess. It looked as if the officials were flipping a coin to determine whether a penalty should be called. The officiating looked completely random. Just when I was thinking that the officiating couldn't get any worse the mess becomes a disaster with the ending last night in the Seattle Seahawks-Green Bay Packers game. I have absolutely no idea what these officials are seeing. In three weeks the replacement officials have lost all respect from the players and the coaches. They've lost any control they probably never really had. The NFL can not let this mess continue. There's no dancing around the fact that the powerful NFL is failing miserably.
There are obviously two sides to every labor issue. The officials have one of the best gigs on the planet. They get to officiate an official game. It's a part time job as most maintain a full time job even during the season. There are demands beyond the time that it takes to play an NFL game but they can rush home to start the work week. Incredible. Even more incredible is that the average salary of the part time officiating gig is $149,000. They are very well compensated for their part time work. I can't imagine anyone being upset with that kind of arrangement. The offer on the table from the league increases that already hefty salary. My understanding is that the real issue is the retirement package. The officials had a very nice pension plan that was not market dependent. The NFL wanted to switch it to a 401K type plan. The officials want no part of this change. I side with the NFL on this as the officials are extremely well compensated for this part time work, even over compensated. I know of no other part time work that has retirement benefits like this. I don't think that the officials realize how great they have it. Still, there has to be some middle ground that can be reached. The quality of the play on the field is suffering. Both the league and the officials have to care about that.
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