NFL May Use Replacement Referees to Start Season
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Doug Pensinger/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Progress is not being reached for a new deal between the NFL and the NFL Referees Association, according to a report by ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen, causing league officials to say Monday that they believe the 2012 regular season will start with replacement officials.
ESPN reports there are two major factors resulting in the negotiations holdup. One, the NFL wants a group of part-time officials to work full-time, but 90 percent of the officials don’t want to lose revenues from other jobs.
The other holdup is the NFL wants to add three additional referree crews to allow other officials more rest and create more officiating options. The locked-out referees oppose this.
The league has already used replacement referees for the first week of preseason games. It has also scheduled replacement refs into the third week of the preseason.
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