Why won’t the SEC pay top dollar to hire the best officials in the business?

Why would you want Alabama to stop getting favorable officiating?

I don't know what game you were watching but Fla. got away with a lot more calls, holding ,and pass interference especially, than anything Bama did.

To see how good football is actually played. To see what relevant teams look like. To see what big games look like. We all know that Texas has not seen any of those things in Austin in a very long time.

Well my point is that with the money the SEC makes they should hire the best officials out of every college and even pro leagues they can find. The SEC should do some homework and seek out officials that do a good job year in and year out. I don’t expect the officials in the SEC to be perfect every year and never miss a call. When games keep getting decided by bad calls or missed calls every year or officials can’t keep up with the down and distance then it’s time to do something.

It’s going to take hiring full time refs like the NFL. These guys have other jobs or are retired from another profession.

The SEC can afford it. Must be complicated by what other conferences would do, but it seems if the SEC created the best group, everyone else would follow.

Beyond ridiculous now.

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It’s going to take hiring full time refs like the NFL. These guys have other jobs or are retired from another profession.

The SEC can afford it. Must be complicated by what other conferences would do, but it seems if the SEC created the best group, everyone else would follow.

Beyond ridiculous now

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8 games a week..

So 10 teams x 6 referees = 60
(including backup teams)

Annual Pay - $50,000?

Total Annual Cost - $3,000,000
Per School - $187,500

That seems like money well spent.

Officiating has been a problem for years with this conference. It seems, early on, to be much worse this year than it has been in the past. What is really a glaring problem popping up this year is how the replay booth is actually managing to get things completely wrong. The State vs Memphis game (LOL) was a clear indicator of the problems that have been festering up for years that have never been addressed.

John McDaid was selected by Sankey as the SEC Coordinator of Football Officials last year. He is actually splitting time serving that role within the SEC as well as with the Sun Belt. So, it may ultimately fall on him to get things squared away - but I don't understand why the SEC hired a guy that is only focused on the conference half the time.

Where are you going to find these officials?

It seems like every team and every conference complains about officials. NFL fans complain about the officials. Many gripes are legitimate, most are just whiny people. Football at least isn't completely dominated by the refs like basketball and hockey are.

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It’s going to take hiring full time refs like the NFL.

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Aren't NFL refs still part-time? I know they tried a full-time program but I think that's no longer the case.

I think this will be a tough topic until we get robots officiating. The NFL and NBA used to have great officials but they both have gone to shite. Not sure you can find great officiating. I think we could use innovative technology to make certain things easier, like why not put a chip in the football so you would know if the ball crosses the goal line? Or put sensors on the sidelines to tell if a runner steps out. We could use artificial intelligence to assists refs in making the right call. To at least know when to not blow a play dead.