Facemask Penalty to become reviewable

[SunsetBengal]

(10 hours ago)Nepa Wrote: You are speaking about "penalty for players," not for officials, and yet conclude on that basis of penalties for players that officials would not risk being associated with gambling. The reality is officials are only part-time and have another full-time job that is their main income source (some own businesses, are accountants, high school teachers, own farms, are bankers, dentists, etc.). A player has everything to lose, including their main income source, loss of money from commercials, and high-profile awareness of their crime. For an official, the benefit/risk is very different.

In addition to a greater risk of officials being influenced in their calls because of gambling -- either directly or because they know their family or friends or colleagues are gambling on the game -- the fact that they are part-time means they also are subject more to pressures to be biased in their calls. Their friends, family, colleagues and their own favorite teams enter into the mix, because this is only their part-time job. 

Okay, seems like the league is pretty in depth into the officials lives, as well.

https://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articles/former_vp_of_officiating_explains_nfl_procedures_for_refs_amid_legalized_gambling/s1_13132_39677914

Quote:Dean Blandino knows what he's talking about when it comes to NFL officiating.


Blandino was the NFL's vice president of officiating from 2012 to 2017. He's now a rules analyst for Fox Sports, so he went from reffing the game to talking about it on Saturdays and Sundays — largely dissecting rules and instant replay challenges.

Speaking of talking, Blandino was recently on the "Awful Announcing" podcast, where he was discussing the widespread legalization of sports gambling and how it has impacted the jobs of NFL referees.

He explained the in-depth investigation the league goes into before an official is fired.

“They look at all of your business associations. They look for conflicts of interest — all of that, bank accounts, everything,” Balndino explained.

Interestingly enough, NFL referees aren't even allowed to wear league gear while outside of the stadium, because officials have been approached in the past in an effort to try to manipulate games for betting purposes.

“We’ve had situations where people were approached,” Blandino shockingly said. “We’ve always told our game officials because they’re in hotels — they’re traveling around during the season — we didn’t want them wearing NFL-branded gear. We didn’t want them to be [conspicuous] because someone sees them and, ‘Oh, those are the NFL officials,’ and then you never know. You don’t know who you’re gonna come across. And they know that they’re supposed to go to NFL security if something like that happens. And that has happened in the past.

“They’re not allowed to go…if they have to go to their casino, maybe in their other job, there’s a speaking engagement, it’s at a casino they can’t go in the sportsbook. They have to let the NFL know that they’re gonna be in Las Vegas for this event and are gonna be staying at wherever. There are a lot of controls in place.”

The good news for fans of the integrity of the NFL game is that Blandino's explanation of the "controls" in place does paint a pretty strict picture.

With that said, all it takes is one referee (See: Donaghy, Tim) to swerve off the beaten path, and this whole thing could come crashing down.