The Most Important Man on the Field

            As an avid sports lover in a football dominant state, I enjoy attending collegiate and professional football games. While visiting family in Houston, I had the opportunity to cheer for the Texans from a Luxury Suite on the 8^th Floor.  From that height, we had an impressive aerial view of the field. Although it was difficult to distinguish one player from another, I could very clearly see the offensive and defensive formations taking shape. From that experience, I gained a greater respect for the head coach because he must be able to visualize what is happening on the field without the ability to see it for himself. He then must communicate that vision to his players in order to effectively match the opponent. That being said, the head coach is still not the most important man on the field. That title belongs to the network television coordinator.

Most football fans love to watch the game but don’t actually pay attention to what is happening along the periphery. The network television coordinator is the man standing on the sideline with neon orange sleeves over his arms and he instructs when referees when to allow for a commercial break... without ever saying a word. All he has to do is step onto the field and cross his neon arms. During every NFL game, the coordinator steps onto the field ten times during each half. Only two of these are strictly scheduled, the other eight are placed at the discretion of the coordinator. 

There are very specific times when the league allows the networks to take a commercial break. Most of these opportunities occur during regular game stoppage, including a timeout called by either team. This means the coordinator has the ability to make the coach’s thirty second timeout last for two minutes if he chooses. In a sport with a limited number of timeouts per half, awarding the head coach an additional 90 seconds to organize his players can have a huge impact on the outcome of the game. This extra time can make or break a drive and directly alter the pace of the game. In my opinion, having this kind of control over the referees and coaches makes the network television coordinator the most important person on the field.