Quote:
Originally Posted by parepat
In WI, since you only have 9 regular season games, do all teams make the playoffs, thus ensuring 10 games at minimum? And, if that is the case are all officials/crews guaranteed at least one post season assignment?
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No, only about half of the teams get in (224 total). There are various criteria, but mainly if a team is over .500 in their conference or overall, they get in. So 5-4 is usually good enough, although I've seen 4-5 and 3-6 teams get spots at the end. Once the field is set, then the teams are placed into 7 32-team divisions.
According to the state football honcho, there were about 200 crews on the playoff eligible list and about 150 got at least one game. Only about a third of the crews get 2 games and those are typically crews where the referee has at least 15-20 years experience in WI.
So at least 50 eligible crews are not working the postseason. And I'd guess there's at least 100 more crews that work Friday nights that aren't on the list at all (for various reasons).