In what seems like a bit of a conflict of interest, Super Bowl 50’s replay assistant reportedly has significant ties to Denver.
Jimmy Oldham served as the replay assistant during the game, and according to The Lead Sports, not only is Oldham from Denver, but his wife attended the game and cheered for the Broncos. She even posted pictures of herself on Facebook wearing Broncos gear, including one in which she posed with referee Clete Blakeman.
The NFL issued a statement when asked by the Big Lead about the potential issue.
“The replay assistant has no input into replay decisions and is on-site to help facilitate communication between the referee and the Vice President of Officiating, Dean Blandino, who typically works from the league’s officiating room in New York,” the statement said. “For the Super Bowl, Blandino was on-site at Levi’s Stadium working from the instant replay booth with the replay official, Charles Stewart, and was in direct communication with the referee during all replay reviews.”
In other words, the replay assistant doesn’t really have the power to significantly change anything. That said, there was one controversial review that happened to go against Carolina, when Jerricho Cotchery’s catch attempt was ruled incomplete and upheld on review:
Even in the NFL this is a catch pic.twitter.com/q2oRDN2tGw
— The Cauldron (@TheCauldron) February 8, 2016
Two plays later, Cam Newton fumbled and the Broncos recovered in the end zone for a touchdown.
Is this harmless? Probably. There were two replay reviews in the game, and the fact is Carolina was outplayed – it’s not like things swung on one of them. But the optics are bad for the NFL. At best, Mrs. Oldham probably should have kept her obvious rooting interest off social media. In the past, replacement referees were pulled for such blatancy, though this scenario is admittedly a bit different.
