If you thought The Debacle in Seattle would prompt a quick resolution to the NFL’s referee lockout, think again.
The owners and the NFL Referees Association met yet again yesterday in Manhattan with a federal mediator, continuing talks that began before Monday night’s farcical ending to the Seahawks’ 14-12 “win” over the Packers, but an industry source said the sides emerged no closer to a deal.
“Just more butting of heads,” the source said in describing more than 10 hours of talks — the longest since they began again last Saturday — that included commissioner Roger Goodell and lead NFL attorney Jeff Pash.
The president of the referees union, active ref Jeff Triplette, declined comment when reached by The Post late yesterday.
The sides remain at a standstill in the nearly four-month-old dispute thanks to two core issues — the league’s plan to expand the officials’ ranks to 140 from the current 121 and the owners’ demand that the referees convert their pension plan to a 401(k).
The refs consider the desire to add more officials essentially to be a backdoor paycut because it could result in fewer assignments (and as a result less pay). They have given in slightly on the pension question, stipulating that any new hires receive a 401(k), but that the retirement system for the current officials be grandfathered in to remain a pension.
The difference in money — estimated by some to be roughly $3 million, or about $100,000 per team — remains a relative pittance in light of the NFL’s skyrocketing annual revenues, which were $9 billion last year and are predicted to double to $18 billion per year by 2017.
But fresh off what many consider a victory over the players in their labor dispute last year, the owners appear emboldened and even more determined to achieve the same outcome in their fight with the refs.
While it might seem the officials’ leverage grows by the week as the mistakes by the replacements pile up, the owners aren’t under as much pressure as you might think because — despite the ref lockout — TV ratings are even higher this year while attendance remains steady.