About The Project

Behind The Stripes is a documentary series and educational project designed to increase the understanding of football officiating and improve recruitment and inclusion efforts in a vocation that is at a critical tipping point, while entertaining and informing football fans and non-fans alike.

The documentary series follows a diverse group of football officials in Southern California, giving an inside look at their lives, and why and how they officiate high school and college football. The series will share their personal stories, introducing their families, their careers and what makes them who they are. It will also show the intense dedication each official puts toward becoming the best they can be.

The series will also focus on looking at major NFL and college football officiating decisions that have shaped the conversation about officials. We’ll give inside looks into the non-DPI call in the 2018 NFC Championship Game, the decision to not call Eli Manning “in the grasp” in the 2007 Super Bowl, the Julian Edelman catch in the 2017 Super Bowl and so much more.

Beyond the series, Behind The Stripes will feature online stories of other officials, humanizing the people behind the much-criticized vocation. It will also create educational materials aimed at improving diversity and inclusion efforts in officiating and educating the public.