Alberto Riveron

{{short description|American football official (born 1960)}} {{pp-pc}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}} {{Infobox person | image = Alberto Riveron signals at Rams at 49ers 11-16-08.JPG | image_size = | name = Al Riverón | caption = Riveron in 2008 | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|mf=yes|1960|6|5}} | birth_place = Havana, Cuba | death_date = | death_place = | education = | occupation = NFL official (2004–2012) | spouse = | parents = | children = | website = }} '''Alberto Riveron''' (born June 5, 1960) is a Cuban-American former American football official and was the senior vice president of officiating of the National Football League (NFL) from 2017 to 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chiari |first=Mike |date=May 10, 2017 |title=Alberto Riveron Named NFL VP of Officiating After Dean Blandino's Resignation |url=https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2708866-alberto-riveron-named-nfl-vp-of-officiating-after-dean-blandinos-resignation |access-date=2024-02-17 |website=Bleacher Report |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Riveron retiring">{{Cite web |last=Patra |first=Kevin |date=August 5, 2021 |title=NFL senior VP of officiating Al Riveron retiring after 17 years with league |url=https://www.nfl.com/news/al-riveron-retiring-senior-vp-officiating-walt-anderson-perry-fewell |website=NFL.com}}</ref>

== Early life == Alberto Riverón was born in Cuba in 1960. His father, also named Alberto, fled to the United States in 1963. At the age of 5½ Riveron emigrated to the United States with his mother, Irene Valdés, on a Freedom Flight. Although they divorced his parents lived close to each other in northwest Miami. He grew up playing baseball, basketball and football, and he was quarterback of his high school team.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.si.com/more-sports/2008/12/01/ref|title=Andrew Lawrence: Alberto Riveron is only Latino ref in NFL|website=SI.com|date=December 2008 |language=en|access-date=2019-11-18}}</ref>

His interest in officiating began in 1977 when he was invited to attend a football officials' clinic. After six weeks of training he began officiating in Pop Warner, taking up to six games a day. He moved onto high school games and by 1990 was officiating in college games. He started in the now-defunct Southern Independent Collegiate Officials Association, which included teams such as Miami and Notre Dame. In 1993 Riveron joined the Big East Conference officiating for six years as a field judge and a side judge. In 2000 Riveron moved to Conference USA, and spent the next three years working as a referee. His supervisor was veteran official Gerald Austin, who recommended him for the now defunct NFL Europe. For two years Riveron would officiate for ten days in Europe.<ref name=":0" />

== Officiating career ==

In 2004 the National Football League (NFL) hired Riveron as a side judge. Mike Pereira, the NFL's vice president for officiating, said "You can't teach the confidence and decisiveness with which he does things."<ref name=":0" /> He was the first Hispanic to officiate the NFL.<ref name="ESPN">{{cite news|url=http://myespn.go.com/blogs/hashmarks/0-6-10/NFL-promotes-Cheffers--Riveron-to-referee.html|title=NFL promotes Cheffers, Riveron to referee|last=Sando|first=Mike|date=1 April 2008|access-date=28 April 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081008101320/http://myespn.go.com/blogs/hashmarks/0-6-10/NFL-promotes-Cheffers--Riveron-to-referee.html|archive-date=8 October 2008|publisher=ESPN}}</ref> Before every game he dedicates over 35 hours watching footage, studying the rules and meeting with his crew. He also spends hours in the gym to keep his fitness up.<ref name=":0" />

He was promoted to head referee (crew chief) in April 2008 following the retirements of Austin and Larry Nemmers. He changed how his name is listed in order to connect more with his heritage. Previously listed as Al Riveron he now uses Alberto.<ref name=":0" />

Riveron was the crew chief for the 2011 AFC Championship game between the Baltimore Ravens and the New England Patriots, and was the alternate referee of Super Bowl XLVI.

==Officiating executive==

On February 19, 2013, Riveron was promoted to the league's Senior Director of Officiating, a newly created position as a second-in-command under the league's former vice president of officiating, Dean Blandino.<ref name="ESPN20130219">{{cite news |title=Alberto Riveron is officiating director |url= https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/8962823/alberto-riveron-promoted-nfl-officiating-director | publisher=ESPN |agency=Associated Press |date=19 February 2012 |access-date=20 February 2012}}</ref> On 10 May 2017, he was named senior vice president of officiating.<ref>Bonesteel, Matt. [http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/ct-alberto-riveron-dean-blandino-nfl-officiating-20170510-story.html Alberto Riveron to replace Dean Blandino as NFL's new director of officiating]. Chicago Tribune. 25 January 2017.</ref> Despite a shaky start the NFL announced that it would retain Riveron as its senior vice president of officiating for the 2018 season.<ref>Wagner-McGoughl, Sean. [https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-to-retain-head-of-officiating-al-riveron-for-2018-despite-shaky-first-season/ NFL to retain head of officiating Al Riveron for 2018 despite shaky first season]. CBS Sports. 25 January 2017.</ref>

During the 2018 season, Riveron received criticism for the manner in which NFL officials implemented penalties for roughing the passer, which had been deemed an area of emphasis the previous off-season.<ref name="SCHILKEN">Schilken, Chuck. [https://www.latimes.com/sports/nfl/la-sp-nfl-roughing-the-passer-20180925-story.html Roughing-the-passer calls are causing confusion, frustration among NFL players]. ''Los Angeles Times''. 25 September 2018.</ref><ref name="JONES">Jones, Jonathan. [https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/09/30/nfl-roughing-the-passer-penalties-calls-week-4 Are Roughing the Passer Penalties Decreasing? Tracking the Week 4 Quarterback Hits]. ''Sports Illustrated''. 30 September 2018.</ref> Critics of the new emphasis on the rule included former NFL Vice President of Officiating Dean Blandino as well as Mike Pereira.<ref name="BOREN">Boren, Cindy. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2018/09/18/dangerous-precedent-mike-pereira-dean-blandino-hate-nfls-roughing-the-passer-calls/ ‘A dangerous precedent’: Mike Pereira and Dean Blandino hate the NFL’s roughing-the-passer calls]. ''Washington Post''. 18 September 2018.</ref><ref name="MCDONALD">McDonald, Charles. [https://www.sbnation.com/2018/9/16/17867328/clay-matthews-roughing-the-passer-kirk-cousins-vikings-packers Clay Matthews’ controversial roughing the passer call on Kirk Cousins has everyone confused]. ''SB Nation''. 17 September 2018.</ref> Riveron admitted in an interview that at least two of the roughing the passer penalties applied the first week of the season had been called incorrectly.<ref name="REUTERS">[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-football-nfl-pit-cle-penalty-mistake/nfl-key-penalty-in-steelers-browns-called-in-error-iduskcn1lr04g NFL: Key penalty in Steelers-Browns called in error]. ''Reuters''. 10 September 2018.</ref><ref name="PELISSERO">Pelissero, Tom. [https://www.nfl.com/news/officiating-chief-refs-erred-on-call-against-browns-myles-garre-0ap3000000960663 Officiating chief: Refs erred on call against Browns' Myles Garrett]. ''NFL.com''. 10 September 2018.</ref> In response, the NFL competition committee held a conference call to discuss the implementation of the rule.<ref name="BATTISTA">Battista, Judy. [https://www.nfl.com/news/competition-committee-uncomfortable-with-roughing-calls-0ap3000000966516 Competition Committee uncomfortable with roughing calls]. ''NFL.com''. 25 September 2018.</ref><ref>Gantt, Darin. [https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/09/25/report-competition-committee-wants-roughing-rule-applied-differently/ Report: Competition committee wants roughing rule applied differently]. ''NBC Sports''. 25 September 2018.</ref> After the conference call, the competition committee issued a rule clarification, which led to a dramatic reduction in roughing the passer penalties in the following weeks.<ref name="SEIFERT">Seifert, Kevin. [https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/27420941/inside-nfl-offensive-landscape-last-season-trends-continue-2019 Inside the NFL's offensive landscape: Will last season's trends continue in 2019?]. ''ESPN''. 20 August 2019.</ref>

On September 19, 2019, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady tweeted that he was turning off the Thursday Night Football game because he couldn't watch the "ridiculous penalties" for offensive holding.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20190926182901/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/when-tom-brady-talks-the-nfl-listens--and-acts/2019/09/24/69aea132-de9f-11e9-be7f-4cc85017c36f_story.html When Tom Brady Talks, The NFL Listens]. ''Washington Post''. 24 September 2019.</ref><ref>[https://boston.cbslocal.com/2019/09/22/the-brady-effect-nfl-talk-to-referees-about-excessive-number-of-holding-penalties/ The Brady Effect? NFL Talk To Referees About Excessive Number Of Holding Penalties]. ''CBS Boston''. 22 September 2019.</ref> Two days later, Riveron held a conference call with 17 NFL referees to discuss the frequency with which holding was being called. The next day, holding penalties were called an average of 2.9 times per game, down from a rate of 5.7 times per game over the previous three weeks, leading to speculation that Brady may have influenced how NFL referees officiate games.<ref>Seifert, Kevin. [https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/27683377/holding-calls-plummet-call-referees Holding calls plummet after call to referees]. ''ESPN''. 23 September 2019.</ref>

In August 2021, it was announced that he was retiring from his position as the head of the league's officiating department.<ref name="Riveron retiring" />

In November 2022, Riveron was named the Supervisor of Football Officials for the ACC.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-11-30 |title=Alberto Riveron Named ACC Supervisor of Football Officials |url=https://theacc.com/news/2022/11/30/alberto-riveron-named-acc-supervisor-of-football-officials.aspx |access-date=2025-04-30 |website=theacc.com |language=en}}</ref> In the role, he would be responsible for managing the oversight, supervision, leadership, training and development of the ACC officiating staff that includes on-field officials, instant replay officials, instant replay communicators, position coaches, evaluators and assistant supervisors.

== Style == Riveron says that when he makes mistakes, he hears about it from everyone, but that "no one feels worse when I make mistakes than I do." He likes to keep an open line of communication between himself and the coaches and players, but tries to stop them from becoming one-sided.<ref name=":0" />

== Personal life ==

Riveron has a wife, Patricia, and two sons, Tyler (1991-2016)<ref>[http://www.footballzebras.com/2016/10/01/in-memoriam/ In Memoriam: Tyler James Riveron (1991-2016)]</ref> and Austin.<ref name=NYT>{{cite news | title = For Alberto Riveron, From Cuba to N.F.L.'s First Hispanic Referee | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/sports/football/16ref.htm | work=The New York Times| last=Branch | first=John |date=15 November 2008|access-date=15 November 2008}}</ref> He had a weekday job as a sales associate for Florida Storm Panels when he first started officiating.<ref name=":0" />

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riveron, Al}} Category:Living people Category:1960 births Category:College football officials Category:NFL executives Category:NFL officials Category:Sportspeople from Havana Category:Sportspeople from Miami Category:Cuban emigrants to the United States