Numbers on Officials Uniforms

[ilyazhito]

I know that Champions Officials Group (a lacrosse and football association in Anne Arundel County, MD) and some football associations in Virginia wear numbers. I know that most professional leagues wear numbers, and was curious about their significance. Numbers are not common in NCAA baseball, but they do exist at the D1 level (my baseball association is both a high school and college association, and the head of my association assigns umpires up to the D1 level (he is the coordinator for the CAA and MEAC). The D1 staff umpires in the MEAC and CAA wear numbers.).

[Tom.OH]

In Ohio there are 3300 football officials, I don't see how you would set up a numbering system. I guess by local associations but some have over 100 members, would you want 3 digits on your back?...

[Altor]

Originally Posted by Tom.OH

I guess by local associations but some have over 100 members, would you want 3 digits on your back?...

It's good enough for this league.
https://operations.nfl.com/the-offic...nfl-officials/

To answer the OP. Like you suggested, I've always assumed the numbers were there for league officials and evaluators to correctly identify the officials in the video they were reviewing. I suppose with more and more video being used and shared by everyone, one could make the case that assigners and evaluators might find this useful at lower levels. I don't expect it to become the norm any time soon though. Too many officials work for multiple associations and assigners. I could only imagine if you had to wear a different number depending on the league you were working that night.