NFL hires 21 full-time game officials to work year-round

Marc Lancaster

•
NFL hires 21 full-time game officials to work year-round image

The NFL on Wednesday named the 21 officials it has hired on a full-time basis in an attempt to improve "every aspect of NFL officiating."

The most recognizable names on the list are the four referees who have been elevated to full-time employees — Walt Anderson, Jerome Boger, Pete Morelli and Brad Allen — but all seven officiating positions are represented.

The remaining 103 officials who will make up the 2017 roster will continue to work on a part-time basis, but the league believes the year-round duties assigned to the full-timers will help raise the level of officiating throughout the league.

SIGN UP to watch every NFL game this season on DAZN

“We believe that we will learn a great deal over the course of this initial year working with the full-time game officials,” Alberto Riveron, the league's new senior vice president of officiating, said in a release. “Our collective goal is to make a positive impact on NFL officiating overall.” 

 

 

Marc Lancaster

Marc Lancaster Photo

Marc Lancaster joined The Sporting News in 2022 after working closely with TSN for five years as an editor for the company now known as Stats Perform. He previously worked as an editor at The Washington Times, AOL’s FanHouse.com and the old CNNSportsIllustrated.com, and as a beat writer covering the Tampa Bay Rays, Cincinnati Reds, and University of Georgia football and women’s basketball. A Georgia graduate, he has been a Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2013.