Ray Anderson leaving NFL at end of season

NFL executive oversaw officiating department during tenure Ray Anderson, NFL executive vice president of football operations, will leave his position at the end of the 2013 season to "pursue other opportunities" according to a statement from the National Football League.   In the statement, commissioner Roger Goodell said of Anderson, "Ray’s wide-ranging

A word of caution to the NFL Referees Association

The NFL Referees Association and its 121 members are enjoying unprecedented appreciation (video) and good will after agreeing to a new union contract and ending the league imposed lockout.  The fans, players, coaches, and media are looking forward to NFL-caliber officiating after three weeks of having replacement officials who tried, and

NFL AND REFEREE UNION REACH CBA DEAL

'REAL' OFFICIALS RETURN TO FIELD TONIGHT [Check the bottom of this post for the latest updates.] The NFL and the NFL Referees Association have reached a tentative collective bargaining agreement that now begins the process of getting the union officials back on the field. Commissioner Roger Goodell lifted the lockout with the tentative

NFL-NFLRA talks productive Wed. (liveblog)

Progress is being made in the talks between the NFL and the NFL Referees Association. Since the news is moving fairly swiftly, we are going to update this post with with the latest status of the negotiations. The union referees have been locked out since June 3 by the league. The

NFL loses credibility in assigning replacement officials

The "blooper reel" of funny, frustrating, and exasperating NFL replacement official mistakes was very extensive going into Monday Night Football in Week 3.  In one call, the "Fail Mary" smashed the blooper reel with a granite rock of mayhem, bewilderment, chaos, frustration, and questions about the quality of the product

NFL, referee union deal may be near

After a month of silence, the typical 11th hour negotiation cram sessions are now underway between the NFL and the NFL Referees Association. The game officials have been locked out since June 3, but negotiations have resumed today after sitting on ice for 34 days. Mike Arnold, lead negotiator for the

NFL VP of operations pressed on lockout

NFL executive vice president for football operations, Ray Anderson, clarified the NFL's proposal regarding full-time officials and scoffed at the idea that the integrity of the game would be compromised with replacement officials.  The NFL has locked out members of the NFL Referees Association in a contact dispute and has

Expect fill-in referees into regular season

[Editor's note: Starting with this post, we will be contributing a regular column to the National Football Post. We are pleased to be collaborating with them this season. The National Football Post is a comprehensive source of news and opinion of the many angles of our favorite sport.] In the history