NFL and referees agree on a 7-year collective bargaining agreement, avoiding potential work stoppage

The NFL and the NFL Referees Association have agreed on a new seven-year collective bargaining agreement that avoids a potential work stoppage and use of replacement officials.

The deal runs through the 2032 NFL season.

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The league began the onboarding process for replacement officials last month because negotiations weren’t progressing. But they won’t be necessary.

The NFL’s collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Referees Association had been set to expire on May 31, and the two sides began negotiating in the summer of 2024.

Terms of the deal weren’t immediately known but the NFL increased its offer to a 6.45% annual growth rate in compensation over a six-year labor deal, two people with knowledge of the offer told The Associated Press in March.

A stalemate in 2012 resulted in a 110-day lockout and replacement referees were used.

That led to several high-profile mistakes, including the Fail Mary when Russell Wilson completed a desperation pass to Golden Tate in the closing seconds to lift Seattle over Green Bay in a Monday night game. Tate pushed off so he should’ve been penalized for offensive pass interference. He appeared to wrestle the ball away from a Packers defender and was given credit for a catch even though two officials had called it differently.

There weren’t as many glaring errors when the NFL also used replacement officials for one week of exhibition games and the opening week in 2001 before the labor dispute was resolved shortly after 9/11, and the regular officials returned in time when the season resumed following a one-week break.