Mike Pereira was once the best thing on NFL Network. In the early days of the league-owned cable channel, Pereira was the league’s head of officiating, and he made regular appearances to explain rules and calls. Pereira parlayed that role into a job as a full-time analyst on FOX, but now he has a beef with his former employer.
Pereira took to Twitter on Wednesday morning and said that NFL Network canceled his planned appearance for reasons he couldn’t understand. As a result, he missed an opportunity to promote Battlefields to Ballfields, the foundation he started that helps military veterans get jobs as sports officials.
“For those of you I told I was going to be on NFLN this morning, including you Veterans in Rochester, my appearance was cancelled because NFLN ‘was hesitant to talk about the rules of the game at this point.’ Really? Thought I was going to talk about our Veteran’s Foundation,” Pereira wrote.
For those of you I told I was going to be on NFLN this morning, including you Veterans in Rochester, my appearance was cancelled because NFLN “was hesitant to talk about the rules of the game at this point.” Really? Thought I was going to talk about our Veteran’s Foundation.
— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) June 13, 2018
It’s unclear why the NFL’s own network is hesitant to discuss the rules of the game. The rules of the game are always among the biggest topics of discussion during the offseason, especially this year, with the revised catch rule and the new rule against initiating contact with the helmet. And Pereira is the best in the business at analyzing the rules of the game.
And for the NFL’s own network to bypass an opportunity to promote a good cause like Pereira’s foundation is just bizarre. NFL Network should explain itself.