Goodell said the league wants to increase the number of officials to give it flexibility to determine who’s on the field and to spend more time training officials.
The NFL Referees Association, which covers more than 120 on-field officials, is at odds with the league over salary, retirement benefits and operational issues. The NFL has said its offer includes annual pay increases that could earn an experienced official more than $200,000 annually by 2018. The NFLRA has disputed the value of the proposal, insisting it would ultimately reduce compensation.
“It’ll get solved,” Goodell insisted.
Core’s replacement crew Wednesday night had Bob Shoulders as the umpire, Greg Maxwell as the head linesman, Joshua Thurow as the line judge, Thaddious Foster as the field judge, Brian Stropolo as the side judge and Babcock. Veteran NFL official Dale Hamer was the replay official.
Core worked three preseason games with a different crew. The six other members of his crew on Wednesday worked three preseason games with Jim Winterberg as the referee.
Core has eight years’ experience as a referee in Division II and III, and other levels. Shoulders has six years’ experience at Division I and II. Maxwell has worked five years in Division III and other levels.
Thurow is the most experienced with nine years in Division II and III. Foster has four years in Division II, Stropolo is the least experienced with three years in Division III. Babcock has five years in Division III and other levels.
The alternate was Tim Keese, who has five years’ experience at Division II and other levels.
“Consistency is the most important thing with officiating,” Goodell said.
The league plans to continue to evaluate every play, official by official, to see if they made the right call, Goodell promised. He also expects a bunch of calls on Monday, a day the majority of teams play.
“Officiating is not perfect, but we believe that we have the best officials and that we can get better, and that’s what we’re trying to do long-term,” Goodell said.
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