NFL

League officials, according to Florio, are “still holding out hope” that they can tack on yet another game to the NFL regular season, but time is running out before the league must schedule the Super Bowl in early 2028. NFL players and the players union have pushed back against the idea of another regular season extension, citing player safety. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has acknowledged this in statements on the potential for an 18-game season. “One, safety has to be the primary concern, right?” Goodell said in late April. “If you can’t do it safely for our players, we’re not gonna do it. And that’s why I would say it’s not inevitable.”

Any concerns about replacement referees can be laid to rest, as the league and its officials finally agreed to a deal ahead of the May 31st expiration date of the current deal. Included in the new agreement, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, is a “joint commitment with the officials to improve performance and increase accountability,” which will include “increased access to officials in the offseason, development of a ‘bench’ of officials, and a new formal training program” that will include minicamps, training camps, and joint practices. The deal was approved with a 116-4 vote, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.

These replacements will undergo training next month to be ready to officiate offseason practices in June. According to the memo obtained by Pellisero, the league reiterated that it “remains committed to reaching a fair and reasonable agreement with the NFL Referees Association but will be fully prepared should the current agreement expire” on May 31. While Goodell and the rest of the league certainly don’t want actual games to be reffed by replacement officials, the league and the NFLRA are seemingly at an impasse in their negotiations. It’s unclear if they will get a deal done before Week 1.

In the most recent meeting between the league and the NFLRA, “several owners” joined the league’s negotiating team, per Seifert. The league and the NFLRA continue to work toward hammering out a deal before the current deal expires on May 31st. The league is already laying the groundwork for replacement referees should a deal not be reached in time before the start of the season, and is expected to begin training said replacements in May if no deal is in place. Hopefully the latests meetings are a sign that things are moving in the right direction, but given the massive gap in salary demands between the league and NFLRA, we won’t rush to assume a deal is close to being signed.

In hopes of avoiding replacement refs 2.0, the league will again come to the table with the NFLRA. The league rejected the NFLRA’s latest proposal shortly before last week’s league meetings in Arizona, with reports that a major source of contention stems from the annual salary increase. Per a report from earlier in The Athletic, the league sought to increase the annual salary by 6.45 percent under the next CBA, while NFLRA is eyeing “an annual increase of more than 10 percent.” That’s a massive gap to close in such a short time, but we’ll see if this latest return to discussions results in a deal in the days/weeks ahead.

Recent murmurs about changing the Rooney Rule have stemmed from the Florida Attorney General sending a letter asking for its elimination. In response, Goodell said, “we are aware of the laws and... we think the Rooney Rule is consistent with those.” The rule is intended to expand opportunities for minorities, requiring NFL teams to interview at least two external minority candidates for general manager, head coaching, and coordinator vacancies. Goodell made it clear in his press conference at the NFL’s annual league meetings that the Rooney Rule is here to stay.

Schroeder said those extra games will go elsewhere on the schedule. The league was airing multiple games on Monday as part of a deal with Disney to increase total number of games aired by Disney throughout the season. Now, the league has a deal to sell Disney control of NFL Network and the MNF doubleheaders will no longer be a thing. Schroeder said the result was a miscalculation of fan interest and other windows will be looked at for airing those games.

This is, of course, in the event that there’s a work stoppage involving the NFL Referees Association. Probably says a lot about what is expected to happen that this rule was passed, don’t you think? It’ll be the first time that New York is able to overrule things on the field on their own with video evidence. The owners also approved allowing teams to kick onside kicks at any time during the game, eliminating the incentive to intentionally kick the ball out of bounds when kicking off from the 50-yard line, and modifying the kickoff alignment requirements for the receiving team players in the setup zone.

Allegiant Stadium was the host site for Super Bowl LVIII for the 2023 season and will again host the league’s championship game in 2029. At Monday’s league meetings, owners approved the decision to name Vegas as the site for Super Bowl LXIII. Only 10 cities have ever had the chance to host more than one Super Bowl per Statista.com, with next year’s game set to take place at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

According to Pelissero, a source familiar with the situation told him “our direction (from owners) is not to be unprepared.” While the decision to begin hiring replacement refs doesn’t mean the replacements will be locked in for Week 1, but the league is being proactive to ensure officials are in place for games with or without a CBA deal.