NFL Referees Are Back

After 3 weeks of mediocre (to say the least) refereeing , the professional NFL Referees are back! Just in time for Thursday Night Football. The NFL and the refs were able to come to an agreement. Get the full scoop here.

The NFL and the NFL Referees Association have come to an agreement. The NFL Referees will get a 4% raise, 12 checks this year, and 19 in years to come including preseason. The money the refs have missed out this season will still be paid--somewhat. The refs will split $2.5 million for the games they were locked out of.The refs will fly to Dallas this Friday to vote on the new deal then it will become final.

As for the controversial benefit plans that these refs wanted it looks like the refs will get current defined-benefit plan for the remaining five years then they will  switch to a 401(k)-style defined contribution plan.

They have already assembled a crew for tonight Thursday Night Football game with the Browns taking on the Ravens. After they sign the deal on Friday, the refs will get their assignments on what games they are calling, get their equipment and fly to their destination.

The deal covers 5 years including this year. So come 2018, we might be doing this all over again. All those times we yelled at the refs and complained about their calls were immediately trumped when these new High School and College refs took over. From now on I think we should give these guys a break seeing how they are way better than the replacements.