NFL Hiring Full-Time Officials for 2nd Season in a Row

The NFL is a massive business that dominates the sports calendar in the United States from September through January but has proceeded largely with officials who are not full-time employees. 

There will be more full-time officials working during the 2018 season.

Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk noted the league announced Thursday that 24 of its 122 officials will be full-time employees in 2018.

"In an effort to improve consistency, efficiency and accuracy, the full-time game officials will work throughout the calendar year on game preparation and game administration, analyzing current game trends, communicating with the clubs, and assisting to ensure that there is a qualified pipeline of future officials," the league's statement read.

Officials often work other jobs both during the offseason and on weekdays throughout the season, per Smith.

This comes after the NFL hired 21 full-time officials during the 2017 campaign.

The announcement comes right before a 2018 season that is sure to have officials under a microscope because of the new helmet rule.

Herbie Teope of NFL.com provided a refresher of the league's new rule that can result in ejections and 15-yard penalties for players. Essentially, offensive or defensive players are not allowed to initiate contact with a lowered helmet to any part of the body and not just the head and neck area, although the rule and its implementation have led to plenty of complaints during the preseason.

Troy Vincent, who is the NFL's executive vice president of football operations, released a statement after the competition committee met to discuss the new rule and said there will not be any significant changes or the expansion of replay when it comes to the helmet issue.

However, he granted "the committee also determined that inadvertent or incidental contact with the helmet and/or facemask is not a foul."

There will now be 24 full-time officials to help the league transition into a season with a significant new rule, and the additional time spent on the job figures to help the referees further understand and implement the change.