People try to frame business struggles like this in moral terms (see Mr. Gregggggg below). The refs are greedy! They only work part-time! They have other jobs! People talk about shit like this as if it matters. As if having one job means you don't have the right to try and get more money at another job. That's complete bullshit. This is America. If you have a unique skill set, and you think can leverage more money out of someone who wants your services, there's NOTHING wrong with that. If you think the NFL will eventually cave simply because the league doesn't want its brand to suffer from all the shitty refereeing, you might lose, but you're not being un-American. There's nothing more American than trying to squeeze other motherfuckers for every last penny. There are no "fair" offers. There is only the best offer, and it's your goddamn right to see if you can get it. There's this bizarre mentality that there are only, like, six productive people in the country, all of whom are billionaires. They rest of us simply make money at their behest. Forget 47 percent. I'm talking about virtually everyone being devalued. I don't really know how it came to that, because it's so innately fucked up. If you think you have a skill worth leveraging against the Ginger Hammer and his big stupid face, you have every right to see it through.posted by drezdn at 1:38 PM on September 20, 2012 [13 favorites]
Why Are the NFL Refs Locked Out? It's All in the Game, Dave Zirin and Mike Elk, The Nation, 22 August, 2012
Consider the multibillion-dollar entity that is the National Football League. Then consider that NFL referees are 119 part-time employees who make $8,000 a week. As Jeff MacGregor calculated at espn.com, at a cost of $50 million a year—less than one percent of total revenue—NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell could hire 200 full-time officials at $250,000 a year. Conversely, if Goodell gets everything he wants from the referees union and he doesn’t have to spend too much in legal fees, it works out to league-wide savings of just $62,000 per team.posted by ob1quixote at 11:50 PM on September 20, 2012 [3 favorites]
2. They've affected the outcomes of games. Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio today explicitly stated that "the league has not (yet) had a game that was decided by a bad call at a critical moment." This is a lie. Florio is assuming that a critical moment is some play that comes at the very end of a game, but all plays are critical. Webb's pick was critical. To say those refs didn't "cost" the Ravens that game suggests they had no effect on the outcome, which is breathtakingly wrong (the Pats were victimized by a number of horrible calls, too).The non-calls getting players hurt:
These refs are affecting virtually every play. Players and coaches have no confidence in these games being governed in a proper manner, and that affects personal conduct, timeout use, play-calling, everything. It's not a matter of affecting the end of a game. This is affecting the entire game. Hop in a time machine and plug in competent refs for Week 3 and I promise you that the results would have been markedly different in ways that none of us could begin to know.
3. They're getting players hurt. Darrius Heyward-Bey got knocked unconscious yesterday. Tony Romo got destroyed on a helmet-to-helmet hit. In neither case was a flag thrown. At this point, players are treating helmet-to-helmet fines as a kind of added tax. There's been no marked increase in player safety this season. Matt Schaub got Mr. Blonded out there yesterday. If players feel like they can get away with more shit, they will. That's why you're seeing so many after-play scuffles.This is a catastrophe, and it's devalued the product far more than the few million dollars it would take to get a deal done. The NFL clearly is willing to injure or kill the golden goose to stick it to the union.
Reporter: "Did you push off?"posted by ob1quixote at 9:48 PM on September 24, 2012
Golden Tate: "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know what you're talking about."
If the Hail Mary pass by Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson were ruled an interception by Packers safety M.D. Jennings, Green Bay -- 3½ point favorites -- would have won by five, covering the spread.posted by inigo2 at 6:26 AM on September 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
Instead, the replacement officials' call that Seahawks wide receiver Golden Tate had possession shifted all those that bet on the Packers to those that took the underdog Seahawks.
"Most of the customers in the sports book were not happy with the final call," said John Avello, director of the race and sports book at the Wynn in Las Vegas. "The shift was 100 percent. After the (Seahawks) score, all bets were reversed."
Although league sources said it would take a week to get the locked-out officials on the field, the NFLRA says its 121 referees have been trained on the new rules implemented last season, have already passed physicals or are prepared to pass physicals immediately. New official game uniforms designed by Nike are "hardly an obstacle," according to a source.And, all the fines are coming out from this past weekend: Belichick gets $50,000 for touching a ref. I am curious to see if the league fines the Green Bay players for their social media posts after their game, especially Clay Matthews for posting Goodell's number.
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posted by Thorzdad at 9:23 AM on September 20, 2012 [1 favorite]