NFL Officiating: An Editorial

The National Football League has made its bed.  And apparently more are lying in it than ever.

Despite the constant furor and debate over bad calls, long periods of inactivity, and basic misunderstanding of the game of football, much less the professional version, the replacement refereed games have resulted in an 8 percent rise in viewership over last season. 

Conclusion:  some people enjoy watching self-inflicted meltdowns and disasters.

The basic issue, according to the NFL, lies in the referees' union demanding pensions. 

A Bloomberg Businessweek writer argued that this made the NFL dispute much like the Chicago teacher strike.  This is a terrible analogy.  One group is employed by a heavily indebted, bloated carcass of a government run institution.  Its product is already bad and has zero credibility.  Frankly, a lot of people can meet the standards of hiring and retention of Chicago schools.  The National Football League earns tens of billions in revenue, which all estimates see rising.  Only 120 officials work for the league.  They must maintain the most rigorous standards of professionalism.  NFL officials also must have superior mental and physical attributes to even obtain a position.  Argue all you want about the relative value of teachers and professional football officials.  Only a handful of people can officiate an NFL game well.  And those that do play a huge role in making the organization profitable.

NFL officials have argued that most of its employees have no pensions.  The best answer is, so what?  A lot of people can answer the phones, sweep the hallways, make coffee, perform maintenance.  Very few people are qualified to coach, play, or officiate games.  Therefore, they deserve more consideration than the office secretarial pool.  Every business fears the obligation of pensions handed out willy-nilly.  Such a burden sank U.S. Steel.  But the NFL has no obligation to pension everyone.  Just the people who make the game run smoothly.

Beyond that, the NFL could even do as some states have and offer to give all new hires 401ks and preserve the pensions for current officials. Toss in a good raise for all of them. This would seem to be a sound compromise.

Otherwise, continue watching the game attract people who want to watch bumbling and buffoonery, instead of its peculiar kind of violent ballet.