It's Over - Real Refs Returning. Or are they? *UPDATE* It's over.

Re: It's Over - Real Refs Returning

Sooooo... Is Peter King right or is everbody else right?

 

Re: It's Over - Real Refs Returning

NFL owners will use the savings over the preseason and first three weeks of the regular season to host themselves another Super Bowl party and toast their greatness.

 

Re: It's Over - Real Refs Returning

hey, sorry if i sound callous, but every year a handful of games -- at least -- turn or are decided by the guys in the striped shirts. i get that one game in the nfl counts substantially more in playoff races than 1 game in other sports mean in their seasons; you're darn tootin' the nfl hopes that if thepackers dont make the playoffs they will miss out by more han one game. but, heck, every year includes teams who got in because a break went their way and not for their competitor... with games 4-16 still to come, sorry, man, not many fans will consider this season 'tainted.'

 

Re: It's Over - Real Refs Returning

I hope you're right. I still think GB will get in, I can't see them not winning the North, but who knows. A likelier scenario IMO is Seattle beats someone else for a WC.

 

Re: It's Over - Real Refs Returning

Dammit.

Wanted one more week, so they could lose control of Raiders-Broncos.

Language in latest CBA forbids player strike.

https://images.nflplayers.com/mediaResources/files/PDFs/General/2011_Final_CBA.pdf

And that's why I have a hard time seeing this as a classic labor squabble. This is not a livelihood that's threatened as much as it's their overtime money. Not like when pro athletes face the owners, but certainly not something that is relatable to most people in professions that desperately need unions to protect them.

 

Re: It's Over - Real Refs Returning

At last we come to the crux of the issue. The NFL did NOT have the refs over a barrel. Yes, they lost considerable amounts of money. But they weren't left without any income at all, quite the contrary.

 

Re: It's Over - Real Refs Returning

Looking at the schedule Green Bay could easily go 11-2 the rest of the way. They should win all of their remaining division games and the non-division schedule isn't too taxing.

 

Re: It's Over - Real Refs Returning

Steroids?

 

Re: It's Over - Real Refs Returning

True but this is just one battleground of many.

The NFL owners did not get to where they are without paying attention to all $$$ spent and where they go. They know if they "win" the pension issue, it will save them a significant $$ down the road. Watch, I predict that if the refs give in, the owners will trumpet how they are increasing the $$ paid into the pensions on a yearly basis going forward, but left unsaid is how they will be relieved of the uncertainty of funding benefits in the future.

 

Re: It's Over - Real Refs Returning

Is the headline on this thread wrong or have I missed something?

 

Re: It's Over - Real Refs Returning

It's wrong.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-nfl-referees-deal-20120926,0,2945769.story

 

Re: It's Over - Real Refs Returning

Sounds to me like the league took a page out of the Rahm playbook and tried to declare things settled to put pressure on the other side.