After a lengthy player lockout last year the NFL is still dealing with labor issues.
The NFL Referees Association has been locked out since the early summer and the league is prepared to start the 2012 regular season using replacements. The league has also said that they will use them for as long as is necessary, according to the Associated Press.
In 2001 the NFL used replacement officials for the first week of the season before a new agreement was finalized. Replacements have been working all preseason games for teams and there have been a slew of missed calls, mistakes and embarrassments.
Some examples include missed calls on helmet-to-helmet hits, wrong attributions for penalties, as well as incorrect procedural calls. One glaring missed call occurred in a preseason game in Buffalo, where the referees awarded a touchback even though the ball had been downed at the four-yard line.
One reason the officiating has been so subpar is due to the fact that the NFL has had to dig into lower levels of competition to fill the spots. Some of the replacements have come from high school levels as well as organizations like the Lingerie Football League. In 2001 many of the replacements came from higher levels, including Division-1 college football.
As part of the negotiation the NFL has asked to add three full officiating crews, a total of 21 officials, which would help lower the workload for current refs. The league is also looking to change compensation and pension plans for referees in the future. Currently all NFL referees are part-time employees and make an average of $149,000.
Many players feel that since the NFL has made safety a paramount issue, they should do whatever they can to bring the referees back into the fold.
NFLRA spokesman Michael Arnold told the Associated Press that the safety of players should play a part in the decision. "The league has placed a lot of emphasis on player health and safety in the last few years and we do feel we are an integral part of that,'' Arnold said to the AP. "We think it is unfortunate and we really don't understand why the league is willing to risk playing safety and the integrity of the game by utilizing amateur officials.''
The first game of the season to feature replacement officials will be the Dallas Cowboys visiting the Super Bowl champion New York Giants on Wednesday.
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
