April 14, 2017
According to Ian Rapoport and Aditi Kinkhabwala of NFL Network, Senior VP of Officiating Dean Blandino will be leaving his post at the NFL to pursue other opportunities.
Big news: Sr VP of Officiating Dean Blandino has informed the @NFL he's leaving to take a job at a network, sources tell @AKinkhabwala & me.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 14, 2017
At the NFL Annual Meetings in March, the owners voted unanimously to eliminate replay reviews on the field, instead adopting a centralized replay command in New York, with the head of officiating (Blandino's role) having the final say.
Unanimously, NFL owners vote for centralized replay w/@DeanBlandino & NY command center having final say. Bye, "under the hood."
— Kimberly Jones (@KimJonesSports) March 28, 2017
Blandino has (rightfully) been heavily criticized for partying on the Dallas Cowboys' bus with Stephen Jones, the son of owner Jerry Jones. While it was posited as Blandino leaving to pursue other opportunities, having him in a role where he had final say over replays would have been a hard sell to other owners around the league who were miffed by the infamous party bus incident.
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