The NFL has “started onboarding potential replacement officials” as the expiration of its CBA with the NFL Referees Association approaches, according to Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com. The CBA between the sides expires May 31. NFL SVP/Officiating Perry Fewell in a memo to teams on Wednesday noted “‘several’ replacements have completed background checks with NFL security,” and they will “soon be given physical examinations.” Online and in-person training sessions with league officiating supervisors are “scheduled to begin on or near May 1.” Fewell wrote that teams will “receive a tentative schedule in the coming weeks with details about replacement officials’ availability to work at OTAs and minicamps beginning June 1, if there is no agreement before then.” Seifert notes the NFL and NFLRA have been “negotiating for nearly two years but reached an impasse this spring.” A meeting last week that included multiple owners produced what a league source said was “progress.” But Seifert notes it was “not enough to delay the NFL’s contingency plans” (ESPN.com, 4/15). A source said the onboarding of the replacement officials was “not a setback or stall in negotiations with the NFLRA.” THE ATHLETIC’s Mike Jones notes it is “expected that the NFL and NFLRA will meet in the coming days to resume negotiations” (THE ATHLETIC, 4/15).
NFL begins onboarding process for replacement officials
