Nfl regular refs are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ImSorryMr.Jackson39]

per adam schefter's twitter....."As @mortreport is reporting, an agreement between NFL and NFLRA is at hand and both sides will work to have officials working this weekend."


I know it is not 100% done deal yet but it looks as if all our complaining has paid off haha finally.


So lets make sure to give the refs a standing ovation when they do come back.

[Rambos]

Deal is almost done! Heard it on ESPN 101


Reports: Deal between NFL, referees close


Sports Xchange

11:43 a.m. CDT, September 26, 2012
The NFL and the NFL Referees Association have reached an agreement regarding backup crews, a significant step toward bringing regular referees back on the field, an NFLRA source told NFL.com on Wednesday. And ESPN.com reports that enough progress has been made that locked-out officials might return this weekend.

The consensus on the one issue came out of a negotiating session that lasted until 2 a.m. ET Wednesday morning.

The owners, who previously haven't shown any willingness to give on the referees' benefits issues that led to the lockout, have become more involved in the talks, a source told NFL.com.

A developmental program will be created as a compromise to the NFL's insistence that 21 officials be added to the current pool of 121 NFLRA members, an NFLRA source told NFL.com, though the money for the existing officials won't increase.

The 21 backup officials won't become members of the NFLRA, but will join a developmental program and be trained to work NFL games. They will be mentored, by NFL crews during the week, but won't work games and won't be eligible to be subbed out.

As the referees improve, they'll be considered for NFLRA membership, with the financial allotment being adjusted to reflect any new members.

The sides agreed that it was crucial to have more qualified refs available when circumstances arise outside of football, such as personal reasons.

The sides haven't yet resolved the issue of referee retirement plans, but an NFLRA source told NFL.com that the officials moved a bit off their position Tuesday.

Owners had sought for all officials to go to a 401(k), and the NFLRA offered to have new officials on such a plan, with existing members grandfathered in under the old pension.

One source told NFL.com that the owners are resisting any further compromises.

Copyright © 2012, Chicago Tribune

[VegasRam]

Owners must have read Bernie's column.

[r8rh8rmike]

Owners must have read Bernie's column.

Owners must have watched the Packers/Seahawks game.

[Rambos]

Hope they get this done today and we get the real deal Sunday.

[ImSorryMr.Jackson39]

as much as IDC for the game tomorrow... I would be pissed if we played with the replacement refs and then on sunday the rest of the NFL got the normal ones haha

[Rambos]

Starting to hear there is not a DEAL...

Peter King>INSIDE THE NFL

Deal still not imminent, but Hochuli has refs ready when time comes
Ed Hochuli is perhaps the most famous of the National Football League's 121 regular officials, and if a new contract with the locked-out officials gets done within the next 24 hours, American football fans will owe him a debt of thanks -- because the prep work of Hochuli will be a key for the real refs to hit the ground running starting with Sunday's 14 NFL games.

A deal, however, is not imminent, according to one official who got an email from NFL Referees Association negotiator Scott Green early this afternoon. "He said we're making progress but not close to a deal right now,'' the official said.

ESPN's Chris Mortensen is reporting the two sides were on the verge of an agreement that would end the stalemate that has put ill-suited replacement officials on the field for the first three weeks of the season. One league source said shortly after noon today that it was doubtful the pension part of the labor deal had been finalized, and he hadn't heard that a deal was imminent. But with a compensation specialist on hand Tuesday and today for the talks -- a usual precursor to a deal, another league source said -- the biggest question remaining seemed to be: Could a deal be ratified in time for the regular officials to ride in on their white horse and work 15 of the 16 games this weekend, excluding Thursday's game?

The answer is yes -- if a deal gets done by late Thursday. Here's how, said one officiating source with knowledge of the NFL Referees Association's plan:

• The officials must meet to ratify any proposal accepted by the NFLRA's board of directors, which includes referees Scott Green and Jeff Triplette. If a deal gets done mid-day Thursday, the officials would meet in Dallas on Friday and vote on the proposal. "They want to go back to work pretty bad,'' said the officiating source. "If they go to Dallas, they'd be voting for the deal."

• The officials could then fly to their respective games Saturday morning and have their regularly scheduled crew meetings, complete with game tape study, Saturday afternoon.

• The league likely would not demand they go through any preseason training, because the NFL is so anxious for the nightmare of the replacements to be over.

The NFL will have Hochuli to thank for the training sessions the NFL has not been able to run. Because he has run some of his own.

Every Tuesday night, the veteran official with the Popeye arms has been holding rules-related conference calls with all officials. Average attendance on the calls, I'm told, is between 90 and 110 per weeks. Hochuli, the officiating sources says, gives all officials a test each week, similar to one they might get from the NFL during a regular week of preparations, and then goes over the results on the phone with the officials.

"That's one of the reasons why the officials will be up to date and ready to go,'' the officiating source said. "Ed grabbed the bull by the horns and made sure that whenever this thing ended the regular officials would be ready to go back to work immediately.''

As for terms of the new deal, it's likely the NFL will get some but not all of what it wanted with a taxi squad of developmental officials. One source said that was accomplished by guaranteeing the officials the same pool of money they would get even if some of them are replaced during the season for performance or health reasons.

[Fortuninerhater]

Wow, being a referee has to be the most thankless job you can find because, as happy as we'll be to get them back, they'll be the most incompetent pieces of cow manure, as soon as they blow a call.

My, my, my, how quickly things will change.

[r8rh8rmike]

Wow, being a referee has to be the most thankless job you can find because, as happy as we'll be to get them back, they'll be the most incompetent pieces of cow manure, as soon as they blow a call.

My, my, my, how quickly things will change.

How funny is it going to be when they come back and get standing ovations at stadiums around the league, then as you said, get booed on the first call that goes against the home team.

[Rambos]

The lock out is over the refs are back done deal per ESPN!