Tonight in the Browns vs Ravens game, we will have the return of the NFL referees. The lockout finally ended last night, and to be honest it is about time. I'm not sure what was the tipping point in the league finally agreeing to terms with the officials. Maybe it was week one, when Mike Vick fumbled the ball and recovered it in the 4th quarter. The Browns decided they wanted to challenge the play, and after six minutes of reviewing the play the official announced that the play was not reviewable, oops. Or maybe it was week two, where the refs were yelled at and lost control of several games, the Eagles-Ravens was a good example of this. DeSean Jackson should have been tossed from that game for throwing an open handed slap. After that game, Joe Flacco called out the league and the replacement officials and as was a common theme reiterated by players and coaches on Sunday, the game lacked "Integrity." If that didn't do it lets look at just this last weekend, honestly where do I start, the Monday night mishaps, the Sunday night blunder that got Bill Belichick fined $50,000 or the fact that on Tuesday Aaron Rodgers flat out apologized to fans for the debacle that has occurred the last 3 weeks. Either way the NFL finally figured out that they needed to get the real officials back on the football field and there was no waiting. Like I said earlier they will be on the field tonight and this weekend and foreseeable future with the new deal they signed. The length of the deal is eight years, in which the referees salary will average $149,000 in 2012 and up $173,000 in 2013, capping out at a whopping $205,000 in 2019. One of the big things for the officials was the pension, which they now have and it will remain in place until 2016, where it will then be frozen. At that point, the pension will be replaced by a defined contribution agreement. This agreement starts in 2017 and will feature contributions from the NFL of $18,000 per official that will increase to $23,000 a ref. The league will also partially match the referee 401k. All that being said was a huge win for the refs. Now this is where the NFL got what they wanted, starting in 2013 the NFL can start hiring full-time officials. The NFL will also have the right to retain referees for a training and development purpose. In the end both sides pretty much got what they wanted, the refs for their raises and the pension, while the league gets to hire full-time refs. Now the question I have for you is, do we as fans give the "professional" refs a week to get their bearings or out of the gate do we expect the polished NFL product we are use to? Lastly, I wonder when will the first fan call into a radio station or post on social media, "these refs suck!" Just keep these last three weeks in mind when critiquing the current officials we have all been yelling at the league and Roger Goodell to bring back. Because as we all now know it really could be worse.
-Brett D
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