Replacement refs gone by Sunday? Labor talks hurried after 'national joke.'

The NFL and its locked-out officials are near a deal, reports suggest. The officiating debacle Monday night appears to have made plain to owner the huge stakes involved for the league.

By Patrik Jonsson,?Staff Writer / September 26, 2012

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick (r.) complains to an official during the first half of their NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens in Baltimore Sunday.

Jonathan Ernst/REUTERS

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When candidates in the heat of a presidential campaign take time to complain about pro football officiating, it is a sign that something is seriously amiss. The National Football League appears to have gotten the message, responding to a game some have called the Monday Night Monstrosity by stepping up labor meetings with locked-out officials.?

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New reports suggest that the two sides are nearing a resolution, and that the officials could return as soon as Sunday. Replacement referees had drawn attention to the situation through several miscues, blown calls, and drawn-out games in Week 2, followed by even more in Week 3 ? culminating in Monday night's game between the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks, when referees apparently blew a call that directly decided the outcome of the game.?

The magnitude of the mistake, in addition to the fact that it occurred in a prime time game, might have made plain the stakes to the NFL owners.

?They were working toward a resolution before Monday night, but Monday night has accelerated the need to get the deal done fairly quickly,? says David Carter, director of the University of Southern California?s Sports Business Institute. ?At this point, fans want to know what?s going to happen, sponsors want to know, the gambling industry is concerned ? and fans that have fantasy sports teams want to know what they?re going to be treated fairly and that the integrity of the game is on par with what they?ve always expected.?

The 31 team owners had in essence hoped that fans and players wouldn?t notice that it was fielding Division II and III college referees. Instead, it became the primary story line for a league that is notoriously sensitive to bad publicity. Some players have complained that the game is now ?a national joke.?

?It?s true that people are still watching the game and ratings are actually up because of the spectacle, but I don?t think fans will be as interested in watching if they don?t believe games are being credibly officiated by week 10 or 11,? says Michael McCann, a sports law expert at Vermont Law School in South Royalton.

The pressure to break the labor impasse has been building since the preseason. Several blown calls in Week 2 added to the urgency. But nothing could have been worse than what happened Monday night, when two replacement refs stood side by side and gave conflicting signals on a game-deciding Hail Mary pass.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/tzXZTO6CFl4/Replacement-refs-gone-by-Sunday-Labor-talks-hurried-after-national-joke.

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