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I anticipated this post. My (limited) understanding is they invite whom they have deemed as being top college officials to try-out with the NFL. Those who are hired for the first time are given a two-year probation period. If they don't make it they're cut. I think I once read that the NFL has a 10-percent annual turnover rate with its on-field officiating staff.
With the officials working one-game a week, they are classified as "part-time". According to my on-line research, prior to the 2001 season, a five-year veteran made $27,000+ (remember they are paid per game). During 2001 they had a labor strife with the NFL. According to the archived news story I found on-line, the strife was settled with a new deal that said all salaries would rise 100% by the sixth year of the deal (2006). So, if that's true (I haven't seen the deal...only the news story reporting it) a five-year veteran this up-coming season would be paid $54,000 (to work 16 games, doesn't include post-season).
Thus, in 2006 a five-year veteran gets $54,000/16= $3,375. Plus they get expense money. 20-year veterans are well above this amount.
Since the NFL has no minor leagues, I guess one could consider Division 1-A football the equivalent of "AAA" baseball. Though I have absolutely no idea how much a Division I-A football official makes, I'm willing to bet its much higher than a "AAA" umpire on a per game basis.
(This is speculation...but I bet a BCS conference referee makes much more than $500 per game. (In fact I found on-line that BCS bowl officials in 2004 got paid $1,400). So I'm reasonably certain they make more than $500 per game during the regular season. Just speculating...but if they worked 4 Saturdays a month at $750/game (plus expenses) that's $3,000. $3,000 for four games in a month vs. $3,000 for 30 games in a month for a veteran in AA.)
Frankly, I think comparing baseball umpires to NFL officials is like comparing Apples to Oranges for a lot of reasons. Obviously, one thing they do have in common is that both an NFL official and a MiLB umpire can be released a lot more easily than an MLB umpire.
I only raised the NFL in my prior post to suggest that not all socialist systems end up in failure...that the NFL itself as a league has benefitted tremendously from such a system. I did not raise the NFL to try and draw a comparison between MLB and/or MiLB umpires and NFL officials.
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