With expanded season- mean an additional officiating crew.?

[jc]

So with a new regular season with 17 games:

1. Will there be an extra crew added this year.
2. Will each crew with exception of 1 still have 2 bye weeks a year.

Do you insiders know how crew staffing and assigning change this year

[lefty17]

With all teams playing 17 games, there are now 272 total games. 272 divided by 17(crews) equals 16. So every crew should have 2 weeks off.

[mike]

With 17 crews every crew will now have 2 Bye weeks

Personally, I think that due to Covid and injuries it would be better to have 18 crews so you have a minimum of two crews off in any given week. I also would try to arrange 2021 Crews so that the crews will be made up of officials from similar geographic areas. For example, it makes no sense to have someone like Steve Zimmer (who is from NY) on a crew with Tony Corrente (who is from CA). I would also look at ways of minimizing travel for officials. For example, trying to avoid a crew having, in a 3 week span, a game on one coast, a transcontinental flight to another game, and then back to the first coast for the third game. I am no computer programmer but tinkering around with an Excel spreadsheet it appears doable.

[jc]

May 13, 2021 12:48:57 GMT -5 mike said:

With 17 crews every crew will now have 2 Bye weeks

Personally, I think that due to Covid and injuries it would be better to have 18 crews so you have a minimum of two crews off in any given week. I also would try to arrange 2021 Crews so that the crews will be made up of officials from similar geographic areas. For example, it makes no sense to have someone like Steve Zimmer (who is from NY) on a crew with Tony Corrente (who is from CA). I would also look at ways of minimizing travel for officials. For example, trying to avoid a crew having, in a 3 week span, a game on one coast, a transcontinental flight to another game, and then back to the first coast for the third game. I am no computer programmer but tinkering around with an Excel spreadsheet it appears doable.

Yes, Mike it is possible...I have had some of my students actually program schedule and there is customizable software available...the problem is the politics...for example a chief not wanting to ref their home city (like Walt Anderson with Texan games), etc...

[zebrablog]

May 12, 2021 20:09:37 GMT -5 jc said:

Do you insiders know how crew staffing and assigning change this year

Because of the relative lack of news, I've started to doubt my insider status. I keep poking the hornet's nest, and nothing happens.

Unless I am completely out of the loop, this tells me there is little to change this year. They have potentially 5 opt-out officials returning, so the 2021 hires were essentially carried out in 2020 in the style of the supplemental draft. Since 1950, the lowest number of new hires in the NFL:

Offsea Hires Depart +/- Notes
2012 0 2 – 2 2 retired after lockout
1950 0 14 –14 AAFC dissolved; NFL hired 13 of 26 AAFC officials
2021 1 5 – 4 Post-covid, 4 of 5 opt-out officials returning
2013 1 3 – 2
2005 1 1  0
1964 1 3 – 2
1962 1 3 – 2
Tony Corrente turns 70 this year, and I am sure it was a matter of discussion internally, but every indication is that R99 will return for another season. That was the most likely avenue to getting a new white hat this year, and it looks like after promoting 8 in 3 years, we're looking at a stable year at the referee position.

That said, there's a new sheriff in town, and maybe he's operating with a need-to-know basis with everyone which keeps the leaks under control. If that is the case, I have found its effectiveness has a short shelf life, and eventually information begins to flow again.

[zebrablog]

Updated the chart above to include Gary Arthur and Steve Freeman, both of whom didn't work last season. Arthur was officially listed as a swing official and Freeman was a covid opt-out.

We'll have the story on Monday morning, as we are trying to confirm rumors of additional changes. Stay tuned