NFL Assigns Refs, Readies Replacements as CBA Expires May 31
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- NFL distributed crew assignments to referees this week, but the assignments excluded any replacement officials the league has vetted in preparation for a potential lockout.
- The league's officiating department plans to begin training those replacement officials this Friday, with vetted college officials potentially staffing OTAs and minicamps as early as June 1.
- NFL owners passed rule changes at their annual meeting in Phoenix granting New York-based league staff authority to help officiate games via video feeds if replacement officials are used.
- At the spring impasse, the NFL offered the NFLRA a six-year deal averaging 6.45% annual raises; the average NFL official earned $385,000 in 2025.
- The NFL is pushing structural changes the NFLRA has largely resisted, including lengthening the new-official probationary period from three to five years, shortening the offseason "dead period," and reducing the seniority-based approach to playoff assignments.
- Perry Fewell, the NFL's senior vice president of officiating, told teams in a memo before the draft that the league was conducting medical exams and vetting on college officials willing to step in as replacements.
Why it matters: A deal collapse by the May 31 deadline would put vetted college officials on NFL fields, supported remotely by New York-based league staff under rules owners already approved in Phoenix. The 6.45% raise offer and $385,000 average salary haven't broken the impasse — the real fight is over probationary periods, offseason access, and playoff seniority rules.
Ask SkimNews
