There is a level of concern among NFL owners, as negotiations with the NFL Referees Association have not made any progress. That means that there is a good chance that replacement referees will be on the field when the season starts, and that's what the NFL plans to do, according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero.
“The NFL plans to begin hiring replacement officials before the May 31 expiration of its labor deal and deploy them in training camps to have them ready if no agreement is struck with the NFLRA,” Pelissero wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
One source told Pelissero, “Our direction (from owners) is not to be unprepared.”
The league has already started putting together a list of officials from the college level to recruit, and the league is also set to approve a set of replay improvements to support those officials during the preseason and regular season. Training is set to start on May 1.
Things are different this time around for the league than in 2012, which was the last lockout, and they waited until July to prepare for replacement referees.
“To expect people to jump from college to the pros and change in speed in that short of time is destined to be a challenge to succeed. We're not going to do that,” a league source said via ESPN. “There will be no panic, and we have begun preparations for the expiration. We have to do it. Otherwise, it would be gross negligence.”
The NFL offered the NFLRA a six-year deal that averages raises of 6.45%, and in 2025, the average official earned $385,000.
