NFL considering making referees fulltime

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Published March 16, 2017

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) The NFL is considering making referees full-time employees and centralizing replay review at its New York headquarters as it aims for more consistent, shorter games.

Those were the major topics of discussion when the league's competition committee met Tuesday in advance of the league's annual scouting combine.

Falcons president Rich McKay, chairman of the competition committee, noted that the collective bargaining agreement allows the league to hire as many as 17 full-time officials. ''That is being discussed,'' he told The Associated Press after the meeting.

The positives, McKay said, are better, centralized training and, ultimately, greater consistency between crews.

Broncos boss John Elway, another member of the competition committee, said the caveat is that these referees have successful careers outside of football and they may not want to give up their day jobs.

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