Report: NFL puts full-time officiating program on hold

The NFL has temporarily shelved its full-time officials program amid ongoing labor negotiations with the NFL Referees Association, sources told Kevin Seifert of ESPN.

The league will, therefore, revert its entire 122-person officiating roster back to part-time status. However, the program could be reintroduced before a collective bargaining agreement is finalized, according to Seifert.

The move will likely have minimal effect on in-game officiating. The program was designed to get referees involved in rule development and competition committee discussions during the offseason. A group of officials were given full-time status and pay through the program to prioritize their NFL work.

All officials work full-time from the preseason to the culmination of the playoffs.

Under the program - which began in 2019 - 20 percent of the roster was selected for consulting and additional training, while the remaining officials were kept as part-timers who were required to stay away from the league from the end of the season to mid-May.