NFL owners have given the go-ahead to begin hiring replacement officials amid difficulties in negotiations with the league's referees association, sources told ESPN's Kevin Seifert and Kalyn Kahler.
The league owners are reportedly "alarmed" at how talks have progressed with the referees' union. The collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the union expires May 31.
Training of new officials will apparently begin May 1. The NFL is readying for a lockout with the league already having put together a list of college officials it wants to recruit.
The league has reportedly offered the refs a six-year deal that carries an average annual raise of 6.45%. The union is pushing for 10% and an additional $2.5 million for marketing fees, according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero.
The referees' association has also pushed back against other proposals such as expanding the probationary period for new hires from three to five years, trimming the "dead period" in the offseason to implement more training, and largely using performance metrics instead of seniority for playoff assignments, Seifert and Kahler report.
The league's officials were last locked out in 2012. That lockout covered the first three weeks of the regular season and culminated in the infamous "Fail Mary" game between the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks. Officials in that contest called a game-winning touchdown on a simultaneous catch, though initially the two officials at the scene made two different calls. The referees' lockout ended just days later.
