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American Morning

Rookie Referees to Officiate Preseason Games

Aired August 30, 2001 - 10:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Even before NFL players take the field, the officials are in the spotlight in a half a dozen exhibition games that are scheduled for tonight.

For the first time ever, replacement officials will make the calls. That's after talks between the league and its Referees' Association broke down earlier this week.

CNN's Mark Fine explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK FINE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The NFL estimates that its onfield officials make the right call an astonishing 99.8 percent of the time, and for that the league has offered the referees, whom it considers part-time employees, a 40 percent raise this year and a 100 percent raise by the year 2003.

CHUCK SMITH, FORMER NFL PLAYER: Everyone else in the league is making lots of money. The owners are getting money, the players are getting money, everyone's getting the money. I think that the National Football League referees are the best in sports right. I think they deserve everything they get.

JERRY JONES, COWBOYS OWNER: We have said that we respect them. We respect our officials. They do an outstanding job. They work hard. They just want too much money.

FINE: How much does the league say is too much? For an official entering his fifth season, the NFL has agreed to raise his salary from around $42,000 to $62,000. But the referees say a five year vet should get $95,000, which is more in line with what they're baseball and basketball brethren earn.

The disparity between the NFL's offer and the officials' demands, only widens for officials with greater seniority. And so, in step the replacement officials, who must make a quick turnaround from college, NFL Europe, and the Arena Football League.

BRAD JOHNSON, BUCCANEERS QUARTERBACK: You're going to get some good calls, get some bad calls. Hopefully, you want the best officials out there. Hopefully their situation works itself out, but the game's going to be played regardless. And you can't worry about the referees calling plays, or which officials are out there, the number one guys or the number two guys.

WILL SHIELDS, CHIEFS OFFENSIVE LINEMAN: When you have a replacement referees or anything else, it's a big concern because you are not used to having a whole different group in there doing different things. You really don't know how the game is going to come out.

DICK VERMEIL, CHIEFS HEAD COACH: I think eventually we will come to terms, and out top flight crews will be back on the field. But, I think we can live with the situation as is.

FINE: Most of the more than 60 rules difference between college football and the NFL are minor. Others could quickly come into play.

In college, a player only needs one foot in bounds to stay in play. In the NFL it's two feet.

In college, a ball carrier is down as soon as he hits the ground. In the NFL, a player can get back up and run, unless he's touched while on the ground.

But the league is confident the replacements will be quick learners.

JONES: A good job will be done. It will be even-handed. There will be no disadvantage or advantage because of them coming in, like they are, to any team in the NFL.

TONY GONZALEZ, CHIEFS TIGHT END: When you think about it, I mean these are the future refs of the NFL anyway. They're just getting thrown in there a little bit ahead of time. But, I have no problem with them. I mean, I think it's going to work out great.

FINE: NFL referees have never gone on strike or been locked out before, and this the first major labor problem the NFL has had since the players' strike in 1987. But replacement referees should be a lot easier for fans to tolerate than replacement players, at least until the first call that doesn't go their team's way.

I am Mark Fine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: A lot of fans are going to have an opinion about this one. For a closer look at the issues and the irritants in this latest labor squabble to barge into the world of sports, let's turn to a man regarded as an expert in and on that field.

Jim Tunney spent more than 30 seasons as an NFL official. He joins us from San Jose, California.

Jim, good morning. Good to see you.

JIM TUNNEY, FORMER NFL REFEREE: Good morning, Daryn. How are you? KAGAN: I am doing OK. Glad I won't be on the field tonight having to call one of those games. The guys that will, as we mentioned in that piece, coming from Arena football, NFL Europe and also college football. But there's is a couple of days, even with that experience, enough to be able to take on an NFL game and officiate it correctly?

TUNNEY: You know, every year we hire rookie officials maybe four or five, sometimes as many as eight or nine. And we take those rookie officials and put one in a crew of six veteran officials, so the veteran officials can help that rookie. Now, we're putting seven rookies on the field at a time, and that's pretty disastrous.

KAGAN: What about the concern for safety for the players?

TUNNEY: That's a big concern as far as official concern. We go in training camps, our own training camp as well as the training camp for the players, and spend time talking about the safety of the players, particularly the quarterback.

And the referee, and that was a job that I had for 25 years as a referee on the field, standing behind the quarterback, protecting the quarterback, telling the linemen to lay off after the ball has been gone. It took me years and years to be sure that the quarterback is protected, and still you miscall from time to time.

A new official like that doesn't have the experience to be able to see the things coming. These officials are coming on the field tonight, and this weekend, as replacement officials do not understand really the speed of the game and the talent of these players.

KAGAN: Jim, you've had a unique perspective, not only on the field, which we mentioned, but you're also coming out of the commissioner's office, which was the last place where you were where you worked. Who is being unreasonable here?

TUNNEY: I really didn't work in the commissioner's office. What I was, the commissioner tagged me, he asked me to be on a committee to study officiating along with several people. And we met several times to talk about how we can train officials, get them better, get them ready for the game. And now all of a sudden, we're having replacement officials. And in one day they're trying to get ready for it.

It takes anywhere from three to five years for a good college official coming into the NFL to really understand the game, and it's going to be a very difficult time.

KAGAN: So, what do you think has gone wrong here? The NFL is so respected, not just as a money making machine, but as a well-working sports league, especially when you compare it to other leagues that have had labor problems in the past.

What went wrong here?

TUNNEY: When we had replacement players, it was not a fun season for the coaches or for the fans, and they were disgruntled. I think it will be that way now.

What has gone wrong is I think that they've failed to meet and confer on a consistent basis. In any negotiation, one should agree on a meet and confer schedule, and stick to it. Like every Thursday at 2:30, no matter what the issues.

KAGAN: But these talks have been going on for months, Jim.

TUNNEY: They've been talking since last November, as a matter of fact, but it broke down between November and March and didn't meet very often. They ought to meeting right now as we speak, and they ought to -- my suggestion is just get in a room, lock the door, order club sandwiches and stay there until you get it done.

I think they can get it done. I have great respect for the commissioner, great respect for the Officials Association and the union to get this thing done. I think they'll get together after this weekend...

KAGAN: You do?

TUNNEY: ... and see that it's done.

KAGAN: You don't see this going into the regular season?

TUNNEY: I hope it doesn't. Because, it's one thing to lose a preseason on an officiating crew mistake, it's another one to lose a game during the regular season when it really counts for a Super Bowl.

KAGAN: Absolutely. Jim Tunney, thanks for stopping by for your expertise. We really appreciate it.

TUNNEY: Delighted to be with you. Thank you so much.

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