The NFL has figured out how many more games it wants to play this season; now it has to work on getting the regular referees to call them.
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue announced late yesterday that the NFL will go with a full 16-game schedule, making up for games lost last weekend on Jan. 6, and reducing the number of playoff teams from 12 to eight. There will be only one wild-card team from each conference instead of three.
“We believe the full 16-game regular-season schedule is vital for our fans and the integrity of our season,” Tagliabue said. “Each team needs to be guaranteed the same number of home and away games plus an equal number of divisional games. The NFL Competition Committee was unanimous on that point.”
With that issue resolved, the NFL can move toward finalizing a new contract with its regular referees, who have been locked out in a labor dispute. Rumors are rampant that a new contract has been reached early yesterday and the officials would be back at work for this weekend’s games. But a source told The Post last night that there are still a few elements of the deal that “need to be ironed out” before the regular officials return to work.
“It’s not as close as a lot of people are speculating,” the league source said. “There are things internally that need to be ironed out and then it has to be voted on by the membership. Can it all get done in time for Sunday? I don’t know.”
The NFL has said it will not comment on the negotiations with the officials until a deal is ratified. But reports by the AP suggested negotiations on a new deal intensified in the aftermath of the terrorist attack on America, a tragedy that suddenly erased the discord that existed between the NFL and its locked-out officials.
In its last offer, the NFL had agreed to give the officials a 60 percent increase in the first-year of a six-year contract and a 100 percent raise by the fourth year. That offer was initially rejected by the officials’ negotiating committee, prompting the use of replacement officials in Week 1 of the NFL season. Games scheduled last weekend were postponed after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
The parameters for the new deal were reportedly worked out with Bill Carollo, the executive director of the NFL Referees Association, and Jeff Bergman, two of the four members of the refs’ negotiating committee. Gene Upshaw, head of the NFL players union, and Steelers owner Dan Rooney also have worked behind the scenes to bring the two sides together.
Once a new proposal is finalized among the negotiators, it will be voted on by the 119 officials via e-mail. The NFL has indicated it would like an agreement ratified by noon today, but that might be optimistic according to the source.