Officiating
Assignment of Bowl Officials
Officials for postseason football games licensed each year by the Association shall
be assigned under the jurisdiction of the subcommittee. Three Division I-A supervisors
of officials will work with the subcommittee to coordinate crew assignments and make
any changes to ensure neutral crews are assigned to games after the teams have been
invited to participate. Any changes necessary will be made in the same group of bowls
as the game for which the conflict occurred. Members serve three-year terms. The
person whose term is expiring serves as chair.
The NCAA staff liaison to the subcommittee also shall participate in this process
along with the national supervisor of officials, who shall be a permanent ex officio
member of the officials subcommittee.
These tasks shall be performed as quickly as possible after the annual selections of
teams to facilitate travel and other arrangements made by and for game officials. The
subcommittee will conduct a November 21 teleconference to determine the officiating
assignments for the non-BCS bowls, and the BCS assignments will be determined
during a December 5 teleconference.
The supervisors of officials of each conference (assigning agency) shall remind each
official assigned to postseason games that he is a guest at the bowl, he should conduct
himself in a professional manner similar to the regular season, and that his role is to
manage the competition for the benefit of the participating student-athletes rather than
become a focal point of the game.
Each person should be aware of policies that govern the conduct of game officials,
particularly as they relate to permissible fees, expenses and amenities. Officials should
not expect or request additional items from the game management of the bowl.
The committee will not authorize for one or more following years the assignment of
any official who does not follow the policies in this handbook or who is not a dignified
representative of college athletics while at the bowl site.
Assignment Policies
Officials will be assigned under the following guidelines:
a. An organization that is eligible to nominate officials for a postseason football game
shall be approved annually by the subcommittee and meet specific criteria to receive
a crew assignment for a postseason football game. It shall:
1. Be a member of the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA) and ultimately
subject to the authority of institutional chief executive officers, or assign varsity
football officials for a minimum of eight Division I-A members;
2. Provide an annual clinic, training and supervision for its officials;
3. Require its supervisor of football officials to attend the annual meeting sponsored
by the CCA; and
4. Assign officials for a minimum of eight Division I-A football-playing institutions for
three years.
b. Bowls are divided into two groups. The first group includes bowls that comprise the
Bowl Championship Series (i.e., the Fiesta, Orange, Rose and Sugar Bowls). The
second group includes all other bowls.
c. Each assigning agency that represents a Division I-A conference that has a contractual
relationship that annually guarantees participation in the BCS shall be eligible to assign
a crew to one of the BCS games. Neutral-crew assignments shall rotate annually. If a
team representing a conference not included in this group participates in a BCS game,
it shall receive a commensurate assignment the following bowl season.
d. After the BCS assignments have been made, each remaining Division I-A conference
will be assigned to a bowl game in the second group. These games would be divided
geographically east and west. Neutral-crew assignments shall rotate annually.
e. After each conference has had one crew scheduled for one bowl game, a second
game will be awarded to those Division I-A conferences that placed at least two teams
in a bowl game the previous year.
f. If, after assignments have been made as noted in (d) and (e), and there are remaining
bowls to be assigned a crew, a third assignment will be awarded to conferences that
placed the most teams in a bowl game the previous year. [Note: In the event of a tie
among conferences eligible for a third assignment, the conference with the longest
time elapsed without receiving a third assignment would be selected for the third
game.]
g. Each crew shall include a standby official.
h. When any adjustments in the assignments are required, the officiating subcommittee
will attempt to make the new assignment commensurate to the bowl to which the
affected officiating crew was assigned.
i. Final officiating crew assignments for all postseason football games shall be subject to
approval of the subcommittee.
j. The supervisor of the assigning conference will identify for game management by fax
transmission the names of the officials who have been assigned to the bowl and where
each official may be contacted.
k. The sponsoring agency shall distribute basic information that may be found on the
NCAA Web site at www1.ncaa.org/membership/postseason_football/forms to the
supervisor of officials for distribution that includes key contacts for the bowl, lodging
information and an opportunity to purchase tickets. It is the supervisor’s responsibility
to distribute the information to the officiating crews.
