Team owners lifted the three-month lockout, allowing the regular referees to return to the field for Thursday night's Ravens-Browns game at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
The settlement came after the marathon negotiations went on since last Friday and picked up intensity after the Seahawks defeated the Packers on Monday night's nationally televised blown call in the end zone.
Emotions ran high after the controversial call — one of the many replacement referees' flubs over the first three weeks of the season. The fill-in referees were universally criticized by the players, fans, coaches, gamblers and politicians. Even President Obama called Monday's play "terrible."
"We are glad to be getting back on the field," NFLRA president Scott Green said after the eight-year deal was pushed through 48 hours after the Packers-Seahawks debacle.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell — who's leadership was questioned throughout the lockout — took a lot of the blame for allowing inexperienced referees to officiate games that many did not have the skills or training to handle. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said the league had 'tarnished" the league by putting inferior refs on the field and apologized to fans for the NFL.
"We look forward to having the finest officials in sports back on the field and I want to give a special thanks to NFL fans for their passion," said Goodell of the agreement. "Now it's time to put the focus back on the teams and players where it belongs."
The 121 regular referees' average salaries will increase from $149,000 a year in 2011 to $173,000 in 2013 rising to $205,000 in 2019.
The timetable for the final signing off on the deal is expected to be minimal. The officials need to meet to ratify any proposal accepted by the NFLRA's board of directors. They are expected to vote on it in Dallas on Saturday.
A day after the real referees came out looking like winners, the other beneficiaries are the fans and the players — even after suffering through weeks of the rent-a-refs.
Meanwhile, the owners came out looking like arrogant Scrooges.
But the big loser was Goodell — who came out looking unsympathetic to the fans and player's gripes about the poor officiating that had head coaches steaming. The NFL fined four coaches — including New England's Bill Belichick and Denver's John Fox — for demonstrative acts against the replacements. Belichick drew a $50,000 fine for grabbing an official after the Patriots lost.
For the Green Bay Packers, the agreement came three days too late.
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