The NFL commenced on Wednesday the P.R. push in advance of what could be the next work stoppage for NFL officials.
The NFL Referees Association has opted not to participate in the the freshly-launched battle for the hearts and minds of football fans.
Via Kalyn Kahler of ESPN.com, NFLRA executive director Scott Green declined to comment on an internal memo distributed internally (and externally) by the league on Wednesday.
“We look forward to discussing that with them,” Green told Kahler. “It’s not really helpful to do it by way of the media at this point.”
It’s even less helpful to allow the NFL to fill the void with its own spin, which already includes claims that the league “strive[s] for excellence” in officiating, and that the goal is to “improve the performance of game officials, increase accountability, and ensure that the highest-performing officials are officiating our highest profile games.”
It’s a tightrope for the NFL. The more the league declares that it’s striving of officiating excellence, the more conspicuous the current flaws in officiating become. And there currently are plenty, both as it relates to a seemingly broken replay process (which has strayed from the “clear and obvious” standard for reversing calls on the field), the vague, sporadic, and unpredictable use of replay assist, and the ongoing absence of full-time officials for a billion-dollar industry in which all other key jobs are performed on a full-time basis.
So be careful what you wish for, NFL. If you convince the public that you’re striving for excellence in officiating, more and more people will point out the various ways in which officiating currently falls short of that goal — for reasons beyond the various changes the league currently hopes to impose upon the NFL Referees Association.
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