PATRICK BALTHROP JR.

Staff Writer

The National Football league is an organization in which the highest of integrity is held. Such integrity has been a model of consistency for decades, however, when the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) for the referees expired last October, talks began to loom about the potential hiring of replacement referees. These replacements, according to rumors being passed around the league would include “elite” retired college officials, officials from the smaller, non-BCS conferences, and Arena League referees.

It’s not a surprise that the main issue in the negotiation over this agreement is money. The referees felt that the raise presented to them was significantly lower than the raise they received back in 2006. An NFL referee has a very complicated job and the men who serve this duty believe that they are entitled to higher salary. Although we only see these men for a couple of hours on Sunday, they spend hours every day looking at film study, training to stay in shape to be able to keep up with the athletes on the field today, and adjusting themselves to weekly changes to the rules made by the league. Although being an NFL referee is technically just a part-time job and many of these refs have jobs during the offseason, the amount of time and commitment to upholding the leagues integrity spent by these men calls for some sort of praiseful compensation.

We all witnessed the chaos in which the league was provided when the replacement refs were called upon to take the place on the field as the official referees. Many instances around the league drew much criticism from around the league. Such criticism came from ESPN analyst Jon Gruden calling their work “tragic and comical.”

One call made by the replacement referees that stood out around the league and was highly debated for days after was the “touchdown” on the last play of the Monday Night Football game in Seattle against the Green Bay Packers. The Seahawks beat Green Bay on a desperation pass into the end zone on the final play. Packers safety M.D Jennings had both hands on the ball and appeared to have a game ending interception in the end zone, but when he fell to the ground in a scrum, Seahawks receiver Golden Tate managed to get his hands on the ball which indicated to the referees that both players had simultaneous possession of the ball ruling in favor of the receiver.

The closest official to the play immediately signaled for the clock to stop, indicating that it should be a touchback for the defense, while the other official located on the sideline ran in and signaled touchdown.

The NFL said in a statement Tuesday that the touchdown pass should not have been overturned; however, the league did acknowledge that Tate should have been called for offensive pass interference before the catch. The league also said there was no indisputable evidence to reverse the call made on the field.

After three weeks of questionable calls and criticized integrity, the league finally decided that the deal had to get done. On September 27, shortly after midnight the NFL and the officials’ union announced that a tentative eight-year agreement had been reached to end the lockout that began in June.