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The NFL has never been impacted by the kind of scandal that rocked the NBA after Tim Donaghy was caught fixing games, but one former rules executive for the league says some people have tried to get the refs to swing things in their favor on the gambling front.
NFL officials can obviously have a major impact on the outcome of games, and while there are plenty of football fans out there who would tell you their team has gotten purposefully screwed over by a ref who made a questionable call, most of those controversies can be attributed to human error as opposed to some vast conspiracy.
With that said, the Tim Donaghy scandal proves the guys in stripes are also humans who can be swayed for the right amount of money, and Dean Blandino (who once served as the Vice President of Officiating for the NFL) says at least a few unsavory characters have attempted to use that reality to their advantage.
Blandino recently appeared on the Awful Announcing podcast and fielded a question about the impact legalized sports betting has had on the league, and while he acknowledged it’s increased the amount of scrutiny refs are subjected to, he noted the NFL has always had to take great care to ensure they aren’t influenced by outside sources.
He noted “We’ve had situations where people were approached” while stressing officials have to undergo background checks to earn the job in the first place and are also told to keep a low profile while they’re traveling for games (for example, they’re advised not to wear any NFL apparel while staying in hotels in order to avoid calling unnecessary attention to themselves).
He also said the NFL keeps tabs on their finances to make sure they’re not at the receiving end of any suspicious payments and keeps an eye on them to the point where they’re not allowed to enter a casino unless they have some sort of approved excuse (and they’re banned from entering a sportsbook if they do get the green light).
As a result, it seems very unlikely the NFL is going to be rocked by a gambling scandal involving referees despite the best efforts of people who’ve tried to infiltrate their ranks.