BREAKING: NFLRA and NFL Make Deal to End Referee Lockout

As Johnny Drama would say, “VICTORY!” Get out there Ed Hochuli!

The National Football League (NFL) and the National Football League Referee’s Association (NFLRA) have finally reached an agreement to end the lockout and put the real referees back on the field.

The lockout has last since the end of summer with replacement officials having officiated all the preseason and the first 3 weeks of the NFL season.  The replacement officials were pretty much awful, with reports of them not even being competent enough to officiate PAC-10 and Lingerie Football League games.  Yes, these people were referees for the most popular sports league in the nation and wealthiest in the world.

Reports this morning indicated that the NFLRA and the NFL were close to an agreement and were still debating some of the finer points.

After weeks of blown calls, being pushed over by coaches who got whatever they wanted such as two extra challenges, and just a plain exhibition of not knowing the rules, the nightmare is over.  The issue was worst during Monday Night Football when the Seattle Seahawks were awarded a win over the Green Bay Packers, even though Jennings had the majority possession of the ball and should have been awarded possession of the ball as time expired, meaning the Packers would have won.

The NFL had been heavily criticized for trying to make a power play over an amount of money that is insignificant in the larger scheme of things to the NFL.  The league was also hypocritical about doing anything to protect “the shield” in the past and this will most certainly carry over to the future.

The biggest issues between the NFLRA and the NFL was that the NFL wanted referees to make being a referee their full time job.  Many of the current officials have day jobs and make around $150,000 a year for officiating.  The NFLRA was also asking for a pension, something that the NFL doesn’t offer to some full-time employees.  It is currently unclear as to how these issues were resolved.

This weekend the referees will officiate their first games of the year without having a warmup.  Whatever the case may be, they will still perform better then the scabs.

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