NFL authorized to hire replacement referees as threat of NFLRA lockout intensifies

Replacement referees are on the way for the first time since 2012

With the threat of a referees lockout becoming more perilous by the day, the NFL continues to move forward with hiring and training replacement referees for use during the 2026 season.

Last week, CBS Sports' Jonathan Jones detailed how dire the situation had become:

... With negotiations at a standstill, the league has started to make contingency plans if it does not have its full suite of officials for the 2026 regular season.

If no deal is met by the start of the year, not only will the league use replacement officials again, 14 years after a disastrous first month with them during the last lockout, but next week NFL team owners will vote on a temporary rules proposal that will allow the league's centralized officiating command center to weigh in on flags thrown and not thrown on plays.

According to ESPN, league owners are "alarmed" by the state of negotiations between the NFL and NFL Referees Association and authorized the onboarding of replacement referees in the coming weeks. The training of those officials will begin May 1.

This is a major step towards replacement referees calling games for the first time since 2012, and it comes a couple of weeks after the NFL began to build a list of college officials it could bring on if necessary.

The collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and NFLRA expires May 31, and the sides are far apart in their negotiations. The arrival of replacement referees adds another wrinkle to the stalemate and could make it even more difficult to strike a deal in time to avoid a lockout.

Negotiations began in summer 2024 but have come with little progress. The NFLRA continues to give little ground in response to the league's requests, which center around improving officials' performance. The sides met last week and were scheduled for two days of talks, but those discussions ended after the first day's morning session, according to CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones.

"We believe that there's an opportunity here to improve our officiating and improve the performance and improve the accountability around it," NFL EVP Jeff Miller said last week. "And we will pay for performance. That's not the issue. And we'll continue to drive that point with our officials. And hopefully they'll be willing to engage with us on those terms increasingly as we get closer to the expiration."

The NFL aims to reward its top-performing officials with better pay and assign them to the most prominent postseason games. It seeks to increase training and education for the lower-performing officials and to reduce the three-month offseason dead period to bring them aboard earlier in the year. Increasing referee accountability is also a top priority.

If the union does not budge on those asks, the replacement referees will arrive in a matter of weeks. And in an effort to assist the lower-level college officials, NFL owners will vote this week on a temporary rules proposal that would allow the league's command center to call or adjust penalties in real time.

There have been two referee work stoppages in league history. The first came in 2001 when replacement referees worked the first week of the regular season, and the most recent was in 2012 when the temporary officials worked through Week 3. That 2012 lockout saw immense scrutiny of the replacement referees, especially after the infamous "Fail Mary" game between the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers.