shortage of football officials

[insatty]

The crew system that our organization uses defeats retention of promising two- and three-year officials. The perception is that, no matter how well a newer official is doing, he cannot make a crew because of the political realities. The result is we lose officials after two or three seasons. The median age of the officials who remain members grows every year. And while change to the crew system is needed in the long term, the remaining members will never vote for a change. So the whole organization is atrophying in my opinion.