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Report: Replacement refs to start NFL season

The NFL season will reportedly start off using replacement officials. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

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The NFL will start the season with replacement officials after the league was not able to reach a deal with the NFL Referees Association, reports CBSSports.com.

The reports says that the league sent a memo to each of the 32 NFL teams letting them know that those replacement officials that have worked the preseason will be in place when the league kickoffs the season next Wednesday when the Dallas Cowboys play the Super Bowl champion New York Giants.

“We believe that if the National Football League fails in that obligation we reserve the right to seek any relief that we believe is appropriate,"  NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith told SI.com. "The NFL has chosen to prevent the very officials that they have trained, championed and cultivated for decades to be on the field to protect players and -- by their own admission -- further our goal of enhanced safety. That is absurd on its face.”

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