Twelve AFL Officials Assigned To College Bowl Games

During this upcoming college football bowl season, 24 Arena Football League officials will be working games across the country ranging from the Division III playoffs to BCS bowls.
This season marks the highest number of AFL officials assigned to bowl games in the history of the League.
“The officials are selected because of high ratings on their performance during the college football season.  They take the top officials from each position, and then they assign them to bowl games,” said Carl Paganelli, Supervisor of Officials for the AFL.
Several AFL officials have already worked in high-profile games this season including line judge Paul Engelberts who worked ArenaBowl XXV and the Big Ten championship game, side judge Jim Coropa who also oversaw ArenaBowl XXV and the ACC championship game, and Shawn Hochuli who refereed ArenaBowl XXIV and the Pac-12 championship game.   
The fast-paced action of the AFL makes the transition to high-profile college games easier for officials.
“Arena Football helps with their college games because the Arena game is so rapid and fast.  You have to pick up your reads a lot faster because the game moves much quicker than a college game," said Paganelli. “So they learn more from Arena Football than from the college game.”
The selection process for bowl officials is not something that a supervisor of officials takes lightly. Bowl games are highly visible and an honorable achievement for football officials throughout the country.
“Each supervisor knows he put his best person out there,” said Paganelli. “They have achieved the highest thing that they can, which is a bowl game.”