By Raleigh McPherson
NEW YORK (TheSportsNext) August 30, 2012: The National Football League 2012-13 is commencing next week but its contract dispute with the NFL Referees Association is far from over, thus making the organizers to opt for the replacement officials for the first week.
The NFLRA said in a statement issued on Wednesday, "Today, the NFL advised teams that replacement officials will work one week at least”.
As per the local media reports, Ray Anderson, NFL executive, dispatched a memo to the NFL franchises Wednesday telling them about the regular-season officiating plans. He also explained the NFL’s position in the “deadlock” negotiations with the NFL Referees Association on new collective bargaining deal.
The experiment of launching the replacement referees has not been a success in the exhibition games but the NFL insists that the now they have undergone extensive training and evaluation and have shown steady improving during the NFL pre-season.
The Super Bowl Champion New York Giants will kick off the NFL2012-13 season on Wednesday when they will host the Dallas Cowboys.
Responding to the NFL’s decision of introducing replacement officials, the NFLRA said in the statement, "We are not surprised based on Ray Anderson's statements yesterday that the NFL was not going to reach out to us. However, this is consistent with the NFL's negotiating strategy which has been 'take it or leave it' and lock them out. It now appears the NFL is willing to forego any attempt to reach a deal in the last seven days before opening night... If the NFL is serious about negotiating, we are ready, but we can't negotiate with ourselves”.
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