Source: Gap between NFL, officials is as much as $70 million

[Tribal Warfare]

Source: Gap between NFL, officials is as much as $70 million
Posted by Mike Florio on September 4, 2012, 9:10 AM EDT

The NFL has been driving a hard bargain with the locked-out officials. Now that the replacements are looking like they need to be replaced, the locked-out officials are driving a hard bargain right back at the league.

The best evidence that the regular officials believe they have the upper hand comes from a Monday report that some are determined to sit out for months, if that’s what it takes to get the deal they want.

“This is a battle of right and wrong,” one unnamed official told Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com. “We are willing to wait for as long as it takes.”

Sorry, unnamed official, but that overstates the situation — and invites a backlash. While plenty of fans believe that the NFL is being obstinate because it can, plenty of other fans believe that the locked-out officials incorrectly assume that their income should grow at the same rate the league’s revenues are growing.

NFLRA spokesman Michael Arnold explained to PFT via email on Monday that the officials’ current proposal would have a total cost $30 million in 2012 in salary and benefits.

It’s still not clear what the precise gap is. A league source tells PFT that, when the parties met on Saturday, the NFLRA reverted to their pre-lockout position, which creates a gap of up to $70 million over the seven-year life of the deal.

If that calculation of the gap is based on the NFLRA’s representation of the officials’ position, this means the NFL is offering a total package worth as little as $20 million — and that the gap extends to as much as $10 million per year.

It could be that the parties have an incentive to overstate the divide in order to avoid external pressure on either side to close it. Regardless, it looks like the replacement officials will get their first close up on Wednesday night, whether they’re ready for it or not.

[Brock]

Originally Posted by BlackBob

I'm tired of Goddell. It's time for a change. I know Condaleeza Rice wants to be the NFL Commish one day. Maybe it's time?

He does exactly what the owners want him to do. Why would they ever get rid of him?

[NJChiefsFan]

Originally Posted by Brainiac

Really? What's your definition of a "rich professional"?

Everything I've ever heard says that the NFL referees have to keep their full-time jobs because they don't get paid enough by the NFL to BE full-time officials.

It took less than 30 seconds to find this with Google:

SPORT..........AVERAGE SALARY OF OFFICIALS
NFL..............Between $25K and $70K
MLB..............$141K
NBA..............$128K
NHL..............$139K

It doesn't sound like the referees are the ones at fault here. The NFL is a multi-billion dollar business. I think they can afford full-time referees.

I think rich professional was a reference to their non-nfl job.

[BigMeatballDave]

Originally Posted by Lou_Zare

heard somebody on the radio talking about this tonight. He said the NFL is risking injury to players by not keeping the best, most talented officials. He said they are a multi billion dollar corporation fussing over small change and risking a lot. I agree.

I agree, too.

All this safety and quality stuff the league harps on and they completely contradict themselves with the way they're handling this.

I don't care how much officials make, but I do agree with the league that they should be full-time.

If the officials want the extra cash, then they should accept being on full-time or stick to their day jobs.

[Bwana]

Originally Posted by Detoxing

The NFLRA better not overplay their hand. There is going to come a point when the Replacements figure it out, and the NFLRA is going to be hosed.

Exactly right.

If we as a nation can survive replacing the air traffic control personnel, I'm sure we can get through the learning curve of new officials. The NFLRA is going to bluff their people right out of a job and in this case, I hope the NFL calls that bluff.