Alberto Riveron is in his first season as the NFL's senior director of officiating. Part of his duties include helping train officials and directing referees on player health and safety issues.
Riveron, who was the NFL's first Hispanic-born referee, has moved up the ranks from working as a youth referee to Conference USA, from an NFL side judge to the crew chief at the 2012 AFC Championship Game.
The Havana, Cuba, native recently talked with NFL contributing editor Bill Bradley about his rise through league ranks, working on player safety issues with officials and what the NFL's Hispanic Heritage Month meant to him.
How did your officiating career start?
Through a friend of a friend, he said to me he was going through a football clinic, and I had no idea what a football clinic was. He said, "I'm an official. I'm a youth league and high school official." I thought that sounded pretty cool, so I went to a clinic. That was 35 years ago. ... That was down in Miami. I started officiating youth league football. I did that for a couple of years, and then I got promoted to high school level. After about 12 or 13 years, I had a gentlemen from what used to be the Southern Independent Collegiate Officials Association -- they had the major independents in the South and part of the East -- he scouted me and asked me to join. Then a couple of years later ... I went to Conference USA and then here.
What was your first job with the NFL?
My first job was in NFL Europe. I got recruited to work in NFL Europe. That was the training program for the league back then. I was there for two years before I got hired. ... They brought me in as a side judge for two years on Ed Hochuli's crew and two years on Gerald Austin's crew, and then I got my own crew.
What was it like officiating in NFL Europe?
It was fantastic. It was a great program. We got to see another culture altogether. I would venture to say ... it was not only about officiating, but it was hanging out with six other guys to see if you could cut it during the week. Let's face it: We went over to Europe six or seven months of the year. There's got to be some chemistry there. Working there told you whether you could cut on the field and off the field. It really was a great program.
How has the transition been for you from the NFL field to the NFL headquarters?
Actually, it was something I always wanted to do. It was something I was always interested in. I never thought it would be this quick. I thought it would be a few years down the road, but when the opportunity came calling -- and they don't come around very often -- I said yes.
How would you describe your job to your friends?
We're in the business of training our officials, educating our officials. We evaluate our officials. We hire our officials. We communicate with coaches constantly and club executives. We work real close with the Competition Committee. And, as matter of fact, (NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino) and I attend the Competition Committee meetings together. We work closely with them to make sure that the rules and their philosophies are carried out to our officials. And that the game is administered properly.
With the addition of some major player safety rules from the Competition Committee this year -- like the crown of the helmet rule and the peel-back block ban -- would you call this a important season for player health and safety rules for officials?
Ever since I've been in the league, the prime concern always on the field has been the health and safety of the players. That's always a primary and utmost concern. It's just evolved into consistently trying to protect our players and making sure our players are safe. Every time we have a rule change, the first thing we look at is health and safety. (Those recent rule changes) really haven't impacted the season much. We've had a couple of rules this year, but nothing major that the officials can't do.
How are players adapting to some of the new player safety rules, like the crown of the helmet rule?
They are adapting great. We have the best athletes in the world. These guys adapt real well, and they understand it's for their own benefit and it's for their own safety. There's not a problem there. Every once in a while, there might be a player who unfortunately hits another one in a way you are opposed to, but these guys are the best in the world. They really have been adapting, and we see it constantly week to week there's nothing being taken out of the game. The game is just as exciting as ever. It's being played in a safer and safer manner all the time.
You are involved in the NFL's Officiating Command Center at the league headquarters each week. What is it like watching a game from that vantage point?
It's fantastic. It's the best seat in the house. We can watch up to 16 games at a time, and we're tuned into each stadium. Whenever there's a situation that requires Dean's attention or my attention, we walk over to the monitor. If we have to communicate with the TV truck to help them to explain a rule or a situation, we do that. If there's a situation where we have to speak to a (NFL) supervisor or an observer upstairs at the games to try to communicate something, we do. We don't get involved in the officiating part of the game, but if there's an administrative situation that we need to get involved in, we will. But as far as the officiating and the direct administrating of the game itself on the field, we don't get involved in that. This keeps us up to date as to what's going on. In case we get asked any questions from an executive, we can do so right away.
Do you have a defined role in the room?
Dean and I basically wander the room, going from game to game, and whenever a situation arises, we look at it closely and stay on top of it. We might pull (a video of) a play out for training purposes. We might pull a play out for fines purposes.
The NHL uses its nightly command center to make rulings on goals, and Major League Baseball has proposed a similar process. Do you ever see the NFL's Command Center getting involved in game officiating to that extent?
I don't see that at all. Right now, we are extremely happy with the way it works. Our referee goes into the replay booth, and he's 100 percent in charge of what goes on in there. We've very successfully been doing it that way, and I think everybody is happy that way.
Five years down the road, how will officiating change in the NFL?
The game has changed in the 10 years that I have been in the league. We're bigger, faster and stronger. We see more formations; we have a lot more plays. The tempo has picked up, so much that I think we're averaging five more plays a game than last year. We have to stay in tune with the formations. We have to stay in tune with the strategies. If we're not getting better, we're getting worse. Technology is playing a big role on what we do. Here in our office, especially, we're experimenting with several things. For instance, we're looking at on-field communication with the officials so they can communicate with themselves or that they can communicate with a replay official a little faster. So technology is a big thing, and we're always in the cutting edge of technology. The way we train our officials uses new technology. We have the latest and best of all our calls on the Surface tablet so they can instantly download film and we can send training tapes at a moment's notice. Technology is huge, but also we have to keep in tune with what's happening with the players as far as formations and schemes and things like that.
As a native of Cuba, what did the NFL's recently ended Hispanic Heritage Month mean for you?
It's a fantastic situation because obviously we're the fastest growing demographic in the country, and not only my generation but now two sons. For me, it was the No. 1 sport growing up (in South Florida). For the next generation now of my two boys, who are 21 and 18, that's the No. 1 sport they watch and are involved in and they both played it in high school. They both still play it recreationally, and I think it's wonderful that this generation now is really, really in tune with everything that happens in the National Football League. I'm just really proud to be a part of it.
