After last night's 2-1 loss to Sporting Kansas City, Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis took umbrage with the referee selection for the match. With the referee for the match in question having only 16 MLS matches under his belt, and with the two teams in question at the top of the league, with one known for a generally physical approach, there was some sense that Kreis had valid complaints.

For posterity, here's Kreis on the refereeing from his post-match press conference: The level of consistency was the lowest I've seen from a referee in MLS. And again, I don't want to belabor the point about the referee being poor. He is going to be poor. It's his 14th match of his entire career. The referee in a sold out stadium, in a first place versus second place matchup - it's the wrong game for him to make his 14th MLS game." (Note: Kreis was mistaken about it being his 14th — it was his 17th MLS game, but it's a moot point.)

It's not the first time Kreis has had this specific complaint, so looking at some facts is a wise plan. Before we jump in, some notes on these numbers. Match counts are for all professional competitions refereed in as the head referee, and they come from transfermrkt.com.

Without further ado, the numbers:

By team, average number of matches officiated by head official

Team Average Median Real Salt Lake 48.24 34.00 Columbus Crew 54.05 26.50 Vancouver Whitecaps 54.75 25.00 Colorado Rapids 60.10 26.00 New England Revolution 62.37 34.00 Chicago Fire 62.89 36.00 Philadelphia Union 73.43 34.00 D.C. United 74.55 26.00 Toronto FC 75.30 30.50 Houston Dynamo 75.84 51.00 FC Dallas 78.29 34.00 Montreal Impact 79.11 51.00 Chivas USA 83.35 61.00 LA Galaxy 92.81 71.00 San Jose Earthquakes 93.19 98.00 Sporting Kansas City 95.29 71.00 Portland Timbers 96.25 90.00 New York Red Bulls 106.00 98.00 Seattle Sounders FC 106.61 98.00

Non-national TV

When match is not on national TV: By home team, average number of matches officiated by head official

Average Median Colorado Rapids 40 22 Vancouver Whitecaps 44 24 Chicago Fire 51 36 FC Dallas 53 34 Real Salt Lake 58 36 Houston Dynamo 60 43 Columbus Crew 64 26 New England Revolution 65 23 San Jose Earthquakes 68 22 Toronto FC 70 39 Montreal Impact 73 51 Chivas USA 79 38 New York Red Bulls 81 63 Philadelphia Union 86 90 Sporting Kansas City 92 36 LA Galaxy 99 51 Seattle Sounders FC 101 94 D.C. United 106 109 Portland Timbers 135 139

When match is not on national TV: By away team, average number of matches officiated by head official

Average Median D.C. United 22 22 Real Salt Lake 36 24 Philadelphia Union 48 21 LA Galaxy 51 24 Columbus Crew 51 34 New England Revolution 60 43 Vancouver Whitecaps 60 29 Portland Timbers 61 30 Chicago Fire 65 44 Houston Dynamo 72 39 Toronto FC 81 29 Colorado Rapids 82 36 Sporting Kansas City 85 61 Chivas USA 88 81 Montreal Impact 92 90 FC Dallas 92 67 Seattle Sounders FC 103 105 San Jose Earthquakes 105 109 New York Red Bulls 115 119

National TV

An interesting pattern emerges, but first let's note the difference between referees selected for national TV matches and those selected for non-national TV matches.

Average Median Non-national match 72 34 National match 103 98

When match is on national TV: By home team, average number of matches officiated by head official

Home Team Average Median Columbus Crew 21 21 Montreal Impact 22 22 New England Revolution 22 22 Colorado Rapids 51 51 Sporting Kansas City 56 56 D.C. United 62 62 Chicago Fire 85 62 Vancouver Whitecaps 98 98 Seattle Sounders FC 102 102 New York Red Bulls 108 94 Philadelphia Union 110 110 Portland Timbers 118 98 LA Galaxy 135 187 FC Dallas 190 190 Houston Dynamo 193 193 San Jose Earthquakes 193 193

When match is on national TV: By away team, average number of matches officated by head official

Away Team Average Median FC Dallas 24 24 Columbus Crew 26 26 Real Salt Lake 51 51 Colorado Rapids 56 56 Chicago Fire 56 56 Philadelphia Union 70 90 Houston Dynamo 83 62 New England Revolution 98 98 San Jose Earthquakes 98 98 New York Red Bulls 124 187 LA Galaxy 125 142 Seattle Sounders FC 146 146 D.C. United 173 173 Portland Timbers 182 182 Sporting Kansas City 190 190

Without regard to national TV: By home team, number of matches officiated by head official

AVERAGE of Matches refereed MEDIAN of Matches refereed Colorado Rapids 41 22 Vancouver Whitecaps 49 25 Real Salt Lake 58 36 Columbus Crew 60 25 New England Revolution 61 23 Chicago Fire 63 36 Montreal Impact 68 43 Toronto FC 70 39 Houston Dynamo 75 51 FC Dallas 78 34 Chivas USA 79 38 San Jose Earthquakes 81 23 Sporting Kansas City 85 36 Philadelphia Union 91 90 New York Red Bulls 92 94 D.C. United 97 98 Seattle Sounders FC 101 94 LA Galaxy 110 117 Portland Timbers 126 98

Without regard to national TV: By away team, number of matches officiated by head official

Average Median Real Salt Lake 38 25 Columbus Crew 49 31 D.C. United 52 23 Philadelphia Union 55 24 Vancouver Whitecaps 60 29 Chicago Fire 63 44 New England Revolution 64 51 Portland Timbers 72 34 Houston Dynamo 77 39 Colorado Rapids 77 36 LA Galaxy 78 71 FC Dallas 78 31 Toronto FC 81 29 Chivas USA 88 81 Montreal Impact 92 90 San Jose Earthquakes 104 98 Sporting Kansas City 106 112 Seattle Sounders FC 111 109 New York Red Bulls 119 119

Do your own analysis of these numbers, but from a Real Salt Lake perspective, here are some interesting patterns that emerge.

Head officials in Real Salt Lake matches have, on average, officiated over the fewest matches when compared to all teams in MLS. The median offers a different perspective — Real Salt Lake is 9th-lowest when sorted by median.

When the match is not on national television and Real Salt Lake are the home team, they are well in the bottom half in both average and median matches officiated by head official.

As above, when they are the away team, the head official has officiated even fewer matches.

Real Salt Lake have had no home matches and have had only a smattering of away matches on national TV, so we'll skip that thought for now.