Why the NFL, NFLRA Remain Far Apart in Negotiations

Negotiations between the NFL and NFL Referees Association remain at a standstill.

The NFLRA’s collective bargaining agreement is set to expire in May. If the NFL and NFLRA cannot agree to a new CBA by then, the NFL could turn back to replacement referees this season.

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Per Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, the NFL and NFLRA were supposed to begin a two hour bargaining session this morning, but the session did not even make it until 12 p.m.

“We want to get a deal with the officials. We've said that repeatedly. We've worked on a negotiation with them for going on two years at this point,” NFL executive vice president of communications Jeff Miller said, via Breer. “We believe that there's an opportunity here to improve our officiating and improve the performance and improve the accountability around it. And we will pay for performance. That's not the issue. And we will continue to drive that point with our officials, and hopefully they'll be willing to engage with us on those terms, increasingly, as we get closer to the expiration. But we want the best officials on-field, and we want greater accountability, and we want greater performance, and that's what we're going to continue to drive towards."

Miller added, “We want more access to the officials for training and education purposes throughout the course of the year. We want opportunities to identify officials who need more help and to provide them that assistance. And that's one of the many elements that we've offered to try to improve performance and the accountability. So, I'll leave it to the negotiators in this case to talk about it, but that is certainly an aspect of this. The officials are engaged in a part-time job, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be able to find time to work with the ones who need some assistance in education and training to improve."

The NFL and NFLRA's most recent set of negotiations were set to start today in Florida. They didn't even make it to noon—talks broke off, with the league's owners meetings set for next week in Arizona.

From NFLRA executive director Scott Green: "We gave them a counter proposal…
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) March 25, 2026

Though the NFL and NFLRA have been in negotiations on a new CBA for two years, little progress has been made over that time. It doesn’t appear that the new sides have come any closer to an agreement.

“We gave them a counter proposal and they rejected it,” NFLRA executive director Scott Green said, via Breer. “We asked them to give us a response, and they refused as their lead negotiator Larry Ferazani said he was not authorized to do so at that point. They then got up and left. "

Breer also noted that a source said the NFLRA “refused to engage in ways to improve officiating performance.

Not only could the NFL turn to replacement referees if a new CBA isn’t reached, but the league could become more reliant on New York to officiate games. Last month, it was reported that the NFL was mulling contingencies to “centralize some officiating functions in New York and expand the use of technology in officiating.”

Officiating is already a contentious topic in the NFL, and heading into next season, there are even more questions surrounding what the state of refereeing in the league will be.

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