The Sunday Night Football broadcast gave us an inside look at the NFL’s officiating command center, and fans were underwhelmed.
The NBC cameras showed off the league’s centralized officiating headquarters in New York, the location where all replay reviews are processed, during the Giants–Bills showdown Sunday night.
The broadcast showed a room loaded with TVs with desk chairs scattered everywhere and employees in casual clothing. And while that may be all the league needs to get the job done, fans seemed to be expecting a bit more from America’s richest sports league, and made plenty of jokes at the league’s expense.
NFL makes $14B a year and the league office officiating war room looks like a below average man cave pic.twitter.com/Q3kgi8dEac
— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) October 16, 2023
The NFL officiating command center looks like the back room security of a Chuck E Cheese
— Sally Mo (@sallimonella) October 16, 2023
That NFL officiating “command center” looks like it’s just a corner table at a Buffalo Wild Wings 😂
— Nicky Brrrr 🇨🇴🇮🇹 (@0hhNico) October 16, 2023
I no longer trust this system. https://t.co/7yIwU6bCuL
— Antonio Casteele (@charlesdickns) October 16, 2023
I thought the same thing. Not sure what i expected but this was not it. https://t.co/OPPFPy9ZYg
— Matt DeCamp (@Its_3rd_down) October 16, 2023
I’ve always imagined it looking exactly like Mission Control. https://t.co/mgheG4bZYj
— Rgraves04 (@Rgraves04) October 16, 2023
I feel like this explains a lot… 🤷🏼♀️ https://t.co/qAqirRaf3T
— Emma (@EmmaBella212) October 16, 2023
My setup for an NFL Sunday would be 10x better than this https://t.co/DJsDPyu7Dq
— Harshul Handa (@Harshul_H) October 16, 2023
If nothing else, these pictures seem likely to resurface every time there’s a questionable call. For a league of the NFL’s stature, you’d think things would at least look a bit more organized.
