Report: NFL exploring potential replacement officials pending referee collective bargaining agreement

The NFL is looking into hiring potential replacement officials for the 2026 season, according to ESPN. This comes as the conversations surrounding league’s collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Referees Association remains pending.

The NFLRA’s CBA is currently set to expire in May. Notably, the NFL used these replacement officials during the 2012 officials lockup, which lasted 110 days and after the third week of that year’s regular season and brought no shortage of controversy along with it.

According to emails that were obtained by ESPN, the NFL is apparently seeking 150 officials by the end of the weekend. These referees would mostly have experience officiating small college games. These officials would be onboarded as early as next month in preparation of attending a four-day clinic in May, the same month the current CBA will expire.

Unless an agreement is reached with the NFLRA, training will continue through the summer with those chosen set to get their feet wet officiating during training camp scrimmages.

NFLRA executive director Scott Green spoke with ESPN, saying that he was “surprised” that the NFL would consider this after 2012’s controversies. Green believes if these officials coach in actual games, while temporary, could increase “vulnerability to gamblers among replacement officials.” He also took issue with these officials not being used to the speed of the game at this level.

This was the same formula that brought in replacement referees in 2012. Fans of the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers remember (for different reasons) the infamous ‘fail mary’ play that lead Seattle to a 14-12 win over Green Bay. The NFL appears as if it’s looking to avoid another one of these situations by instituting the offseason-wide training sessions written above.

For now, the talks will continue between the officials and the NFL over their collective bargaining agreement. If they don’t come to an agreement before the season, history may repeat itself 14 years later with replacement officials in the NFL.