NFL officials will return for week 4 after the League and the refs finally came to a new agreement. "Pleased to report that an agreement has been reached with the NFL Referees Association," NFL executive Greg Aiello wrote on Twitter:
The agreement came after long drawn negotiations following a blown call in Monday's game between the Packers and the Seahawks. The Packers lost to the Seahawks thanks to the replacement refs' controversial call on a Hail Mary pass.
The incident then aggravated matters for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and team owners who felt the heat and were forced to find a resolution.
According to a report from The ProFootballTalk.com, a crew of NFL officials have been brought together to officiate the game between the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens Thursday and for their assignments for the games on Sunday and Monday, the regular officials will go to Dallas to get their equipment.
The crew working for this season is the same as that working last season.
The report also states that the pension issue had also been sorted out with the existing defined benefit plan valid for 5 years until the NFL officials are rolled over into a 401 thousand plan.
With this agreement, the NFL has successfully ended a four-month lockout and three weeks of constant tensions with replacements. They managed it just in time or the games this weekend.
The league suffered severe criticism from several payers, fans, and even otherwise friendly broadcast partners during the initial three weeks of the regular season.
Sam Bradford, St. Louis Rams quarterback, had said: "I hope it happens soon. I just don't think it's fair to the fans, I don't think it's fair to us as players to go out there and have to deal with that week in and week out."
The NFL picked the replacement officials mainly from small college, junior college and high school ranks unlike the regular season in 2001 when major college officials were used as replacements.
When the news spread on Wednesday that an agreement had been reached, President of the NFLRA, Scott Green, in an email informed officials that it was too early to comment since talks were still ongoing.
Commissioner Roger Goodell also participated in the negotiations. "Our officials will be back on the field starting tomorrow night. We appreciate the commitment of the NFLRA in working through the issues to reach this important agreement."
Meanwhile, Scott Green said: "Our Board of Directors has unanimously approved taking this proposed CBA to the membership for a ratification vote. We are glad to be getting back on the field for this week's games."
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