NFL Prepares for Replacement Refs, Labor Talks Stall

0:00On April 8th, the NFL just dropped the heads up to all 32 teams, if they can't hammer out a new deal with the referee's union by May. 31st, replacement officials start showing up at practices from June 1st. Talks for the new labor agreement have hit a wall, with the current six-year contract expiring soon. Lead bosses are pushing ahead with backup plans, planning to pull most replacements from NCAA Division I, II, and III ranks. At last week's owner meetings in Phoenix, they greenlit a system where these fill-in reps get real-time help from the NFL's officiating command center to fix obvious errors during games this fall. The big hang-up is money union reps want about 10% annual raises, way up from the current 5.75% bumps, while the NFL's after a fails. Counter is 6.45% over the next six years. Other flashpoints include shortening the off-season blackout on league ref contact for better training, plus longer probation for newbies and making, underperformers work spring games.

1:03Teams are already sharing OTA and minicam schedules to get these reps up to pro speed, so expect this saga to heat up as summer rolls in. NFL News today, powered by AI bringing you what matters on game day. I'm Corey with the story.