NFL's talks with officials' union ends; replacement refs likely to open season
 

NEW YORK (AP) -- The NFL and its on-field referees union failed to reach an agreement when they met Saturday, and the league said it's proceeding with replacement officials.

The NFL locked out the referees in early June, then hired replacements, whose work in exhibition games has been heavily criticized.

"We met with the NFL this morning and discussed various potential solutions to reach a new collective bargaining agreement," Michael Arnold, lead negotiator for the NFL Referees Association, said in a statement. "Unfortunately, we were unable to reach any agreement.

"We are disappointed because it means that our members will not be back on the field for Week 1 of the regular season due to the NFL's continuing lockout. We remain willing to negotiate with the NFL in order to reach a fair agreement."

Commissioner Roger Goodell was among the league officials involved in Saturday's session.

"Commissioner Goodell and other NFL staff members concluded three days of talks today with representatives of the NFLRA without reaching an agreement," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said. "No further talks are scheduled. We are proceeding with the replacement officials."

NFL's talks with officials' union ends; replacement refs likely to open season | wwltv.com New Orleans

This is pretty disgusting.

Re: NFL's talks with officials' union ends; replacement refs likely to open season
 

Wait till we start losing games because the rep-refs are scared to pull the flag and our timing routes get screwed up...:bugeyes:

Re: NFL's talks with officials' union ends; replacement refs likely to open season
 

Goodell failed to come up with a solution. I don't think it will affect viewership but it will become a talking point before and during every game and when teams start losing games on bad calls, the fans will scream. The NFL's memo instructing coaches and players not to talk about it will only work to a certain extent and it will only be a matter of time before a ticked off player or coach, that just lost a game on a bad call, goes off to reporters in the locker room. The longer this goes on, the worse Goodell looks.

Re: NFL's talks with officials' union ends; replacement refs likely to open season
 

Let's just hope that they start *****ing earlier and not later. Every team is going to have bad calls against them. Even if it doesn't cost them a game it's going to tick off the fans. That is the time that things will start getting sticky for the Kommisar.