Recent Owners’ Meetings Fail to Ease Tension Between NFL and Its Officials

We already told you that NFL executives were getting extremely concerned about the tenor of negotiations with the league’s officials about a new collective bargaining agreement, and that angst only soared after the owners meetings last week.

League officials briefed teams on the state of affairs with its already-beleaguered officials and continue to explain contingencies being made for potential replacement officials. That possibility, frankly, has general managers and coaches worried, given how inconsistent the games are already adjudicated by the best of the best. The prospect of using new crews for at least part of the season was far and away the issue that had team employees most concerned coming out of the meetings.

“I really hope they don’t (mess) this up,” one GM told SportsBoom.us. 

“I didn’t like what I was hearing.”

Another longtime NFL executive told said: “They (the league office) gave the impression they are up for a fight.”

What’s The Worst That Could Happen?

The war of words and the battle for hearts and minds between the officials and the most successful sports league in the history of this country keeps ramping up. 

The rhetoric reached new levels with all of the owners and team officials gathered for meetings last week and recent discussions between the NFL Players Association and the league’s officials union did not go unnoticed, either. 

The NFL is preparing for new officials in part by making contingencies to expand the use of the league’s central command in New York to become more involved; ;that was largely accepted and is being championed by personnel executives, whether it’s the current officials or replacements in use.

While the expanded role of central command is being couched as a one-year looksee based on the uncertainty of the situation with the officials, there was a strong expectation among those I chatted with coming out of the meetings that it’s going to be here to stay. Replacement refs were a disaster the last time the NFL utilized them, and those scars linger.

“There’s no going back once that starts,” another GM said. 

“The guys on the field need all the help they can get… New York (central command) should be more involved… But it can’t be with replacement refs. They can’t be that stupid. I have to believe they get this done by Week 1.”