Overview
- Owners at the Phoenix meetings on Tuesday approved a one-year rule that lets the New York command center help correct clear, obvious officiating errors if replacement crews are used.
- The league has authorized recruiting college officials and plans to start training candidates on May 1, with reports pointing to a pool of roughly 150 to 180 prospects.
- Talks on a new contract remain stuck, with the NFL offering six years of 6.45% annual raises and the union seeking about 10% plus $2.5 million in marketing fees.
- The league also wants tighter performance accountability, longer probation for new officials, postseason assignments based more on in-season grades, and a shorter offseason no-contact period.
- The NFL has told teams not to comment publicly on the negotiations, and officials cite the 2012 ‘Fail Mary’ episode as a reason to prepare earlier and add centralized oversight now.