NFL Frequency Coordinators Vital to Game Day Communications

by Eddrick
Sports In The Bay

How many times have you anxiously waited for an NFL Referee to explain a call via his microphone? Or seen a quarterback cover the ear holes on his helmet so that he can hear the play being called from a coach? Most often than not the process is seamless for NFL fans, coaches, and players. However, chaos would reign if not for three guys sitting in the Press Box. Eric Weaver, Deverol Ross, and Bill Broooks are the NFL Frequency Coordinators at the Raiders home games. And they play a vital role in managing all of the wireless communications that affect the game on the field.

“Basically we look at all the frequencies and coordinate them,” said Brooks, “we try to protect the coach/quarterback system and some of the other systems. Any wireless device or wireless mic that comes in here is occupying some spectrum and a lot of times they occupy the same spectrum. So we need to sort them out and get the guys who haven’t previously coordinated to turn their mics off.”

I asked if they have the ability to jam or interrupt an unauthorized wireless transmission. “No, we can’t jam anybody,” said Weaver, “what we do if it comes down to it is we have NFL security remove the offending party. Everybody who brings in a wireless mic or stuff like that has got to coordinate it ahead of time. We keep a big spreadsheet (electronic) like this to track who’s on where (frequency) and make sure they’re not going to mess each other up.”

You might be surprised at the amount of radio logistics/operations involved in an NFL game these days. “You look down there on the sidelines and the coaches are all using wireless intercoms,” said Weaver, “that’s forty channels that have to be kept clean for that…there’s the coach to player system and that’s at least eight channels that have to be kept clean for that…anybody bringing in a wireless mic or system like that can step on top of somebody else’s wireless mic. You don’t want somebody else’s play by play coming in over the stadium speakers when a Referee goes to announce a call.”

The role of the frequency coordinators is so vital that the NFL has taken over their operations to make it seamless from stadium to stadium. “I’m actually the eldest member of the crew and I’ve been here longer than anybody, since 2001.” said Ross. “Over the last several years we’ve been underneath SBE (Society of Broadcast Engineers) as the coordinating group. As of last season, SBE and the NFL ended their relationship and as of this year all of us are now NFL employees.”

So the next time you hear a referee say “After further review…” keep the guys in blue in mind. You wouldn’t be able to hear the ref’s call without them.