Seeking recovery from the embarrassment of using “replacement referees” for nearly a quarter of a 16-game season, the National Football League hopes to wipe the slate clean and move forward from the debacle that frustrated the hearts and souls of football fans and players alike.
The outrage that ensued from the referee scandal signaled that the NFL, arguably the most popular professional sporting league in the nation, has been negatively impacted by complicated labor negotiations. The use of replacements arguably diluted the quality of play and removed the sports focus from the players to the failure of the referees, highlighting a process that would serve as a detriment to the NFL.
Having nearly succumbed to a complete work stoppage in the previous year, the NFL could not afford to continue being viewed in such a negative light in the short term. Future losses that would result from potentially declining viewership would decrease revenue, albeit on a limited scale.
Although the league seemed to be negotiating in good faith, it may appear that the losses that resulted from betting were the straw that broke the camel’s back with respect to putting regular referees back on the field.
Following the madness that ensued from the monstrosity of a result in Seattle, about $300 million in bets changed hands, according to Vegas oddsmakers.
This loss would have resulted in additional lost money as bettors claimed that up to 20 percent of wages that would have been bet over the course of the season would have been withheld. Due to the unpredictability that resulted from the referees, a large number of bettors would have avoided betting money on football.
Effectively, demand for the NFL would have decreased due to the mistrust and lack of consumer confidence that was caused by the presence and focus on the replacement referees.
While the NFL was already well on the way to finalizing a long-term labor agreement with the referees, the decrease in demand on the part of bettors would eventually reduce interest in the league.
This served as a prime incentive for reaching a swift agreement that put the regular referees on the gridiron this weekend.
There is no doubt that the league was impacted negatively by replacement referees. According to a study, 50 percent of fans said they would watch less football and 74 percent claimed the lockout had a negative effect on their opinion of the NFL.
There was no avoiding a major controversy that would damage the reputation of the league.
While not explicitly stating it, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell seemed to agree with this point.
He said in respect to the referee crisis, “This has gotten a lot of attention. It hasn’t been positive. We had to work through it to get to an eight-year agreement.”
Regardless of the impact of betting in accelerating negotiations, the referee crisis was bound to be resolved eventually.
The Monday Night mistake that cost bettors millions essentially forced the NFL’s hand and necessitated an immediate agreement. As such, gambling in fact may have corrected an issue, unlike in other sporting leagues in which it has created major long-term problems.
Clearly, the NFL was pressured into developing a resolution so that the public’s focus would shift from the replacement referees back toward the players so that the league could return to labor peace.
Matthew Schnur is an economics freshman at UF. His column appears on Wednesdays. You can contact him at opinions@alligator.org.
