The NFL Referees Association has responded to the recent statements by the NFL with the formal statement below:
Over the last two weeks the NFL and Ray Anderson, its Executive Vice President, have made or published statements regarding negotiations between the NFL and NFL Referees Association (NFLRA) which are false and/or misleading. The FACTS are set forth below.
1. NFL Statement: The NFL wants to hire three additional crews to provide current officials with more rest and to provide the league with more options. The NFLRA opposes this concept.
FACTS: The NFL’s proposal to add twenty-one (21) additional officials without increasing the aggregate compensation allocated among all officials constitutes a major REDUCTION in the NFL’s proposal to the NFLRA. This reduction was threatened by the NFL when they locked out the NFLRA officials on June 3, 2012. The increase in the number of officials was first proposed by the NFL to the NFLRA by letter dated July 19, 2012 and had never been mentioned in the preceding ten (10) months of negotiations. It is clear that this proposal is a negotiating tactic to attempt to divert attention from the real issues.
2. NFL Statement: The concepts of “full time” officials and additional officials are two major stumbling blocks in the current dispute.
FACTS: The issues of “full time” officials and additional officials have never been serious issues in the negotiations. The NFLRA is not opposed to full time officials if they are fairly compensated. While the NFL has never made any compensation proposal, comparable positions in other professional sports at the 20 year level earn approximately $350,000 to $400,000 and are provided health insurance, a pension, time-off with pay and numerous other benefits.
Likewise, the NFLRA does not oppose the hiring of additional officials. However, it is not reasonable or fair to add officials with no corresponding increase in aggregate pay as the NFL has proposed. The last CBA established procedures for hiring and compensating additional officials. The NFL now wants to abandon these procedures in order to impose a punitive pay cut.
3. NFL Statement: The league has repeatedly stated that in its current proposal a typical official would receive a 5 to 11% pay increase.
FACTS: The NFL’s proposal provided to the NFLRA Negotiating Team includes aggregate game fee compensation increases of 2.82% per year, not the rates publicly claimed by the League. In fact, the NFL’s proposal does not contain any salary schedule. Rather it contains aggregate game fees for all officials to be paid per a schedule to be developed by the NFLRA.
4. NFL Statement: Their pension proposal has been aggressively fair.
FACTS: The NFL’s proposal on the referees’ pension plan has been unchanged during the entire 10 months of negotiations – to immediately freeze and ultimately terminate the plan. The NFLRA made a major concession by offering to “grandfather” the defined benefit plan only for current officials. This concession typically “settles” the pension issue in almost all negotiations, but the NFL has refused to discuss it even though 18 teams continue to maintain defined benefit plans for their employees.
SUMMARY
The real question is why has the NFL maintained its “take it or leave it” stand and refused to change its position on the core economic issues during past ten (10) months of negotiations? It certainly is not because they can’t afford it. NFL revenues increased from $6.5 billion to $9.3 billion during the last contract period and are expected to increase in the near term to $12 to $14 billion.
The difference in aggregate compensation requested by the NFLRA and offered by the NFL are insignificant compared to NFL revenues. In the 2012 season the difference is about $2.2 million and over the five (5) year term proposed by the NFLRA about $16.5 million in total. That breaks down to $500,000 per team over five (5) years or $100,000 per team per year. This means the compensation issue could be resolved for $6,000 per game for each team! Why would the NFL jeopardize the health and safety of it players and the integrity of the game for such a modest amount?
The NFLRA has requested aggregate compensation increases less than what the NFL and NFLRA agreed to in the 2006 CBA agreement and the continuation of the defined benefit pension plan for current officials. At a time when the NFL demands that its officials maintain the highest level of integrity and serve as guardians of the game by impartial enforcement of the rules, the NFLRA believes its professional members are entitled to fair treatment in return.
With the regular season fast approaching it is time for truthful and meaningful negotiations to take place.
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