Foul Reporting Area Moved?

[Back In The Saddle]

I was talking with another official about the foul reporting area at a game last night. I looked it up when I got home and it appeared to be a lot closer to the table than I remembered.

As it turns out, if you compare this year's officials manual to the previous one, the entire reporting area has shifted 1/2 the width of the key (6 feet) toward the table.

That was a quiet change! What gives? Is this a philosophical counterpart to the calling official staying tableside in three-whistle? Is it meant to bring the calling official closer to the coaches?

Frankly, I don't really want to be any closer to the table than I have to be when reporting. Running an additional distance, both ways, lengthens the dead ball time, which is seldom a good thing. And it brings us closer to the coaches on every report, which isn't always a good thing either.

Is this a good change? Am I just being a dinosaur in my thinking?