American Football: NFL's referee crisis resolved with new deal
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.America's latest existential crisis is over.
Regular NFL referees were due back in action at last night's game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Cleveland Browns, after national outcry forced chastened League owners to strike a hasty deal to end the lock-out of the officials. The provisional deal – which both sides are expected to ratify in the next couple of days – ends a three-and-a-half-month dispute that had seen error-strewn replacement referees brought in.
The new eight-year deal is understood to resolve the main sticking points between the sides: the referees' demand for a modest increase in pay and the preservation of their existing pension scheme, and the owners' efforts to have a system in which under-performing referees could be suspended.
There are only 120 regular referees, earning some $150,000 (£92,500) over the course of the regular season. Settling the dispute will have cost a few million dollars at most, little more than a rounding error when set against the NFL's $9bn of annual revenues.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments