NFL Rotates Full-Time Referee Statuses To Part-Time Following New Deal With NFLRA In 2020

The NFL has officially put their deal with the NFL Referees Association on hold after it’s under review, according to Kevin Seifert of ESPN. Seifert says that this will have minimal effect during the course of the upcoming season, but rather the seasons to follow. It’s a more to implore the NFL to improve the NFL officiating in a new era of sports where wagering is becoming more legal in every state. According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the officials council has a deal with the NFL that will last through March of 2020. This means that commissioner Roger Goodell means to dispense with the old rules of officiating and bring in new ones where the NFL is set to make millions from the legalization of sports gambling.

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The NFL has rather eliminated the Referees Association of it being a full-time job to a part-time set. Seifert of ESPN wrote, “Barring a turn in negotiations, the decision means the NFL will revert to its previous structure of using a full roster of officials whose employment status is part-time.”

The NFL and it’s associate referees agreed on an eight-year deal back in September of 2012 that would incorporate a collective bargaining agreement. Let it be reminded that this was around the same time the NFL lockout was taking place. During that same time, the NFL brought in part-time replacement officials for the first quarter of the regular season.

For now, the information regarding the NFL Referees Association is limited, as again, it won’t be impacting the coming season at all, but rather the following season when their eight-year deal reaches an end. The NFL is trying to value neutrality as it becomes more involved with sports gambling.

According to ESPN, the NFLRA or the commissioner’s office have yet to comment on the news that was announced Thursday night.