The NFL is bringing in the “O” team.
In an effort to get a deal done with the NFL Referees Association, the talks will now include owners.
Two weeks ago, a bargaining session fell apart because, as the NFLRA put it, the NFL’s negotiating delegation had no authority to negotiate. (The NFL has never rebutted that contention.)
This week, negotiations will resume.
Via Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (which is now owned by ESPN, which now is partially owned by the NFL), the NFL will send “several owners who sit on committees that oversee labor relations and the game itself” — specifically, the Management Council Executive Committee and the Competition Committee.
That’s a positive sign. Empty suits can never get anything done. They’re messengers, and nothing more.
Also from Rapoport, “The NFL priority continues to be investing (with record-setting raises offered) and in accountability and performance in officiating.”
The reference to “record-setting raises” is yet another management-friendly slant that has been seeping through far too many NFLN/ESPN reports on the situation (none of which carry disclaimers about the league’s stake in the outlets). So what if the raises are “record-setting”? Everything about the NFL is currently record-setting. The only question is whether the increases being offered are fair to both sides.
As to “accountability and performance in officiating,” here’s our item from Sunday. The NFL has had, since 2019, the ability to hire up to 17 full-time officials. The NFL also has had the ability, if not the mandate, to develop and maintain a game officials training and evaluation program.
The sudden urgency to improve officiating, two months after the Commissioner said he was “so amazed at how good our officials are,” seems to be a P.R. ploy and/or a power play aimed at creating the impression that the NFL’s hard line is about making things better at a time when its hands are otherwise tied.
Hopefully, the negotiations will cut through the rhetoric and focus on getting a deal done. Of course, as long as the NFL has a couple of major NFL media operations on speed dial, it will continue to believe it has already won the battle for the hearts and minds of the customers.
We prefer to call it like we see it. And the last thing we or anyone else should want to see is a repeat of the 2012 Hail Mary debacle.
Or even the mere chance of that happening.
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