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The vast majority of the officials tasked with keeping order in professional sports are full-time employees who receive a pretty hefty salary for a job that comes with plenty of pressure.
For example, referees in the NBA can make upwards of $550,000 per season (their counterparts in the NHL have the potential to earn over $400,000 a year), while umpires in the MLB average around $300,000 on an annual basis.
NFL refs, on the other hand, “only” make around $200,000.
However, the nature of the sport means they’re typically only working a single day each week, which makes it a pretty lucrative side hustle for the men and women who typically hold another full-time job while using the money they receive from the league as supplemental income.
While every football fan knows their ability to make the right calls on a consistent basis can leave plenty to be desired, anyone who’s still traumatized by the Great Replacement Refs Debacle of 2012 knows things could be much, much worse.
With that said, the NFL has reportedly begun to explore the possibility of changing the longstanding status quo, as a report surfaced toward the end of the previous season that suggested the league was looking into employing officials on a full-time basis in the hopes of improving the quality of their work.
According to Pro Football Talk, that proposal hasn’t gone over well with a number of current officials who’ve asserted they’d rather quit their job than have the NFL become their primary employer.
However, the outlet also spoke with an unnamed executive who didn’t seem particularly concerned about the ramifications of a potential exodus, as they noted “These guys are not good enough for us to worry about losing them” while making it very clear they don’t think there’d be much trouble finding new candidates who could fill the void.
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how things play out.