And i’ll bet a good many of you vote for the Corporate Shill Party in November.

My advice to the old refs would be:
1. a half of a loaf is better than no loaf.
2. Ask for some benefit that the owners don’t have to pay for immediately, like a retirement stipend.
3. Don’t quit your day jobs, which you all have! Remember, this is a part time gig Guys!

We will see how that works out for them. They are not elite football players. they are people who get trained to do a certain job. The replacements will be shaky at first, but give them a year and they will be just as good as their predecessors.

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“NFLRA spokesman Michael Arnold explained to PFT via email on Monday that the officials’ current proposal would have a total cost $30 million in 2012 in salary and benefits.

It’s still not clear what the precise gap is. A league source tells PFT that, when the parties met on Saturday, the NFLRA reverted to their pre-lockout position, which creates a gap of up to $70 million over the seven-year life of the deal.
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It is a GAP of $70 million in what the referees are asking. That is not the total value of what they are asking for 7 years. They want $70 million MORE than what the NFL wants to pay them. The referees want a package of $30 million this season just to referee games.

$30 million for referees this year? And an increase every year? I want to know the total value of the 7 year commitment, if they are $70 million dollars apart on agreeing to a deal…

Then, they dont want to be full time employees (but they do want to have full benefits and a pension for part time labor), they dont want a bench pool, they dont want to have to answer to poor performance, and have any accountability…but want $70 million MORE???

How many people show up on Sunday to watch referees? Because theyre sure acting as if theyre the talent here.

What I want is full time refs, not gonna get it so I don’t care what they do next.

I do think that if they go into the season with the replacement refs, they should go the whole season. The quality of the game is not determined by the quality of the refs.

From perspective, as a fan, I haven’t been convinced that part time officials have provided anything worthwhile to the game. The players do that on the field.

If replacement refs mean that more games will be decided by the players and not by stupid calls, cool beans.

What I do know, is that both teams have to deal with the same refs in that game. I suspect fewer have pre-existing preferences for the teams in the league.

If we cannot have full time refs, we deserve refs that are accountable. If the refs make bad calls, they should be acknowledged, fined and benched if need be.

And every single week the scabs are out there butchering the job these guys’ leverage goes up. It’s refreshing to see the league office in a position of vulnerability for a change.

i say total opposite of that…..every week the new refs will only get better and better and little by little some of the old refs will be asking if they can join the new refs along with the new rules the nfl wants……..they need to remember they work for the owners and the nfl…..i can’t wait to see bad officials get weeded out and graded….the money they make (for a part time job) they ought to fund their own pension…………i’d fire em’ all if it was up to me and then let the good ones re apply with the new system………………

What absolutely irritates the heck out of me is the refs pointing out mistakes on the replacements. I watch three to four games per weekend, and I am questioning a call in EVERY one of those games. Most of the time, multiple calls. Why do you think Fox hired Mike Perrera?!? Seriously!

I think the NFL should offer the SEC and ACC officials what they are offering the current ones right now.

The NFL is giving a discounted product when the main chaos control of 60 minutes of ‘there’s a time-out on the field’ action is being operated by people who have know idea what they’re doing.

I surely wouldn’t want to pay $8 per beer, and $50+ per ticket when I’m getting an improperly officiated game.

Games are going to be won and lost by the battles in the trenches that are not officiated properly.

At the opening gates of stadium around the NFL I hope there is a big %25 off everything, cause that’s what they’re giving us a fans.

Sure. Pay full price for a discounted product.

That’ll solve your problem of making the games more enjoyable to go to then staying at home with your 60′ HDTV and fridge full of beer at $17.99 a case for Miller Lite.

$70 million over seven years…OR $312,500 per team, per season.

Not so much when looking at it that way.
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True – all you need to do is join 24 other fans of your team to chip in a paltry $12,500 each per year for seven years, and your team’s share will be provided for.

You will notice that the overwhelming majority of your readers note the deficiencies of the replacements, but think the regular refs are being unreasonable. Sometimes you write as if the fans are against the NFL’s position, and sometimes you write as if fan sentiment is split, but in fact, it appears that a large majority of fans support the league in this dispute.

Break that down each official is making $7500 a week.

Give me that any day and I’ll be happy.

The pro ones are bribed and fabricate decisions to affect games.

The difference is only how you describe the results. The replacements make mistakes. The pros throw games.

Which one is better?

The refs have a job. They do it well … like we all do our jobs well. But we’re not irreplaceable, and neither are they. In a season or two the new refs will be just fine. Because they don’t have to run a 4.4 40 … or leap over two people to catch a football. They just have to do a job … one that you’re paid $150,000 to do .. part time.

NFL is a billion dollar industry. The referees want chump change. Disappointing to see the NFL compromise the integrity of the game over what is essentially a few cents to them.

So you would rather have your team lose a game due to the part time refs making bad calls then the replacement refs that will try to fix it.

If you are truly a giants fan then how do you not remember the giants vs packers game one and two last season or the blown call in the giants vs 49ers in 2002. The part time refs blow games all the time. I think everyone remembers the music city mericle, the tuck rule game and most would even aru that a hold wasn’t called on the giants vs the pats in the first sb during the helmet catch. These replacement refs may not be great but the part time refs miss a lot of calls to. They decide the outcome of games on a weekly bases and are never held accountable for it. So please don’t act like a giants fan then act like these part time fools are perfect. They ruin as many wins for teams as these replacent refs will and they have been doing it a lot longer

Officiating a game is not rocket science. There are already thousands of well qualified refs in the USA.

I am in no way a supporter of the unions in general. I think that they have lost their reason for existence especially the federal unions.

But in this case I side with the refs. The nfl needs to realize that if they want quality refs they need to be full time jobs with full benefits. When off season comes each ref should be in classes honing their knowledge base and skill set. They should be responsible for reviewing each and every game they did over the past couple of years. That will help give the quality we need for a game that moves at break neck speed. It’s not like the nfl is in danger of losing money. The money is there to settle. On the nfl side, they need to demand better accountability and demand pay and raises based on merit, not just seniority. But this needs to be settled. The replacements are brutally bad. Just one mans humble opinion
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You said you side with the refs, but I’m not sure you do, the NFL wants the refs to be full time employees like you suggested, its the refs who want to stay part time. The fans and the NFL would love to see the refs improving and getting better in the offseason.