Get ready for the return of the replacement officials.

The NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement wth the NFL Referees Association expires on May 31, 2026. And the league has launched the official P.R. process, through a “report” from Tom Pelissero of league-owned NFL Media regarding the situation.

Advertisement

Here’s the full tweet posted by Pelissero:

“The NFL’s collective bargaining agreement with officials is set to expire May 31, and EVP of Football Operations Troy Vincent told owners today that talks on a new deal have been unsuccessful as the league pushes for a performance-based model. Areas of focus for the NFL in any new deal include:

“*Tying compensation to performance;

“*Greater flexibility giving the best-performing officials postseason assignments;

“*Access to more practice reps;

“*Extended probationary period to assess new game officials and flexibility to remove those who are unperforming [sic];

Advertisement

“*Shortening the ‘dead period’ that currently runs from the Super Bowl through May 15;

“*And increasing the number of game officials to develop a deeper bench.

“The next negotiating session is set for Dec. 30.”

In a unionized setting, both sides will come to the table with certain terms they want. For the NFL to get those various concessions, the league will have to be ready to give the officials something in return.

The nuclear option is, as it was in 2012, a lockout with the hiring of replacement officials. At that time, Commissioner Roger Goodell insisted the replacements would perform as well as the regular officials.

Advertisement

They did not. As explained in Playmakers, folks close to the action were amazed that a disaster didn’t happen before the Week 3 Monday night “Fail Mary” debacle.

The legalization, normalization, and monetization of gambling raises the stakes, pun intended. The league can’t afford to have anything other than the best available officials — especially when the best available officials still aren’t as good as they need to be.

The first term the league should want is full-time officials. But that won’t be cheap. And the NFL is, when it comes to a fixed (and sizable) cost that generates no direct revenue.

Regardless, the P.R. push has begun. And it will now continue, with the fans caught in the middle of the back and forth that ultimately will be about dollars and cents.