I’m curious whether pro sports refs - such as the NBA, NFL, Premier League, etc. - undergo background investigations where the league checks to see if they are known to have a personal favorite team, or their geography (i.e., someone who grew up in L.A. is likely to favor the Lakers,) etc.
In the World Cup and other FIFA tournaments, for instance, I believe one policy is that you never have a referee who is of the same nation as one of the teams playing on the field. But even then, there is still indirect bias; one particular outcome may have an indirect big benefit (or drawback) to the ref’s home team.
For college sports I am pretty sure they cannot ref a game for a school they attended or family members attended. For the pros almost zero former players become refs so I don’t think that type bias matters.
I don’t see how this could be practically enacted. I could see vetting to avoid a ref working a game with a team that they or a close family member have business ties to (remember, NFL refs are only part-time - you probably don’t want a ref that works during the week for a corporate law firm who’s biggest client is the New York Giants working their games). But other than that? How would you even do that?
If you live in NYC, or have ever lived in NYC, or have a close family member who lives or has ever lived in NYC, you’re banned from Giants and Jets games? What about other NFC East and AFC East games? What if you grew up midway between NYC and Buffalo? Are you banned from NY Giants Games or Buffalo Bills games? Both? Neither?
Also, keep in mind, there just aren’t that many professional refs in any of the major sports leagues. If you take an already small pool, and say no one with close ties (however you define that) to the biggest American cities can ref games for teams from those cities, I doubt you’d physically be able to field a full roster of refs for most games.
If you’re an official in any sport that plays more than one game a week - it’s a full-time profession, and you’re on the road continually travelling from one city to another.
There’s a Premier League referee in England whose brother is a season ticket holder at Arsenal. A friend of mine knows the brother and the referee supports another team who he never gets to referee. The brother sits high in the stand behind one of the goals. On one occasion the ref was in charge of an Arsenal home game and awarded the opposition a penalty kick at that end of the pitch. Apparently he looked up and made eye contact with his brother as if to say “sorry, but what can I do?”
The NFL does extensive background checks on prospective officials. I had a few friends who worked in the strike season (I know, I know … and yes, that game…) and they describe the process as “frighteningly thorough”.
I believe there are also regular reviews of officiating where other referees watch tapes of the plays and the calls that were made to see if a referee has a pattern of making bad or biased calls.
Indeed, I think former players would be less biased than most people. Anyway, in Major League Baseball, there hasn’t been an ump who was an MLB player since Bill Kunkel, who retired in 1984. Sadly, he died of cancer in 1985; he was only 48.
I would be more concerned about
Officials throwing games for money, like the NBA ref a few years ago, or
Offiicals just being inept and peevish, like Angel Hernandez.
I don’t see any way to guard against that except ongoing evaluations.
The NBA should erect statues of Michael Vick at every arena. I’m kidding of course, but the Vick news crowded out the NBA stuff and the NBA should be eternally thankful to Vick.
And, yes, I think the biggest risk from a ref is getting involved in gambling. Which means we’re stuck with endless replays which drag down the pace of every sport