NFL set to begin hiring and training replacement officials, AP sources say - AP News

Referee Clay Martin (19), far left, talks with the officiating crew during an NFL football game between the Arizona Cardinals and the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Kareem Elgazzar, file) By  ROB MAADDI Updated : , ,   Leer en español  Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share (function () { const counter = document.getElementById("scrollToComments"); const HEADER_OFFSET = 120; function findCommentsModule() { return document.querySelector('.vf3-comments, #vf-conversations, '); } function maybeShowCounter() { if (findCommentsModule()) { counter.style.display = "inline-flex"; } else { counter.style.display = "none"; } } // Show only when Viafoura is present maybeShowCounter(); // Watch DOM for late loads const observer = new MutationObserver(maybeShowCounter); observer.observe(document.documentElement, { childList: true, subtree: true }); // Scroll action counter.addEventListener("click", function () { const el = findCommentsModule(); if (!el) return; const top = el.getBoundingClientRect().top + window.scrollY - HEADER_OFFSET; window.scrollTo({ top, behavior: "smooth" }); }); })(); .thin-line-button { display: inline-flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; border: 1px solid #ccc; height: 30px; padding: 0 10px; cursor: pointer; border-radius: 5px; background: none; text-align: center; font-size: 1.4rem; font-weight: 700; white-space: nowrap; flex-shrink: 0; color: inherit; transition: none; /* Remove animation effect */ } .thin-line-button { color: #000; background: white; } /* Remove hover effect */ .thin-line-button:hover { border: 1px solid #ccc; } .comment-icon { width: 20px; height: 20px; min-width: 20px; min-height: 20px; flex: 0 0 20px; object-fit: contain; display: inline-block; } .Page-actions-commentCounter .embed-caption { display: none; } .vf-comments-count.vf-is-logged-in { margin-left: 4px; } PHOENIX (AP) — The NFL is moving forward with plans to begin hiring and training replacement officials in the next several weeks because negotiations with the referees’ union have been unsuccessful, two people with knowledge of the discussions told The Associated Press. Both people spoke on condition of anonymity Sunday because the conversations are private. The league and the NFL Referees Association have been negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement since the summer of 2024. The current CBA expires on May 31. The NFL has increased its offer to a 6.45% annual growth rate in compensation over a six-year labor deal, but the NFLRA wants 10% plus $2.5 million for marketing fees, the people said. AP AUDIO: NFL set to begin hiring and training replacement officials, AP sources say A number of topics minus one controversial play will be up for debate at this year’s NFL meetings. Correspondent Gethin Coolbaugh reports. NFLRA executive director Scott Green told The Associated Press on Monday: “those numbers are not accurate.” He said negotiations with the league are similar to 2012 when a stalemate resulted in a 110-day lockout and replacement referees were used. The league wants compensation tied to performance so that only high-performing game officials during the regular season share in the year-end bonus pool. Pioneering female NFL official sues league over her treatment and firing 2 MIN READ NFL’s last foray into replacement refs featured blown calls, rule mixups and the Fail Mary 6 MIN READ Buccaneers GM Jason Licht confident about Baker Mayfield’s future in Tampa Bay 1 MIN READ The league is also seeking greater flexibility to ensure the best officials are on the field during the postseason. The current CBA includes seniority as a factor in making postseason assignments. “We had ‘high performing officials’ who worked this year’s championship games and the Super Bowl who were paid less for those games than what they were paid for a regular-season game. That certainly isn’t rewarding performance, as the NFL claims is their goal,” Green said. Shortening the “dark period” is also a priority for the NFL. Currently, the league has no communication with game officials during the roughly three-month stretch between the Super Bowl and May 15. The goal is to increase access to game officials for rules discussions, video review, mechanics and appropriate football operations and committee meetings in order to improve the game and officials’ performance. “Apparently ‘League sources’ are continuing to put out false and misleading information instead of wanting to meet at the negotiating table,” Green said in a statement. “The bottom line is our officials work for the wealthiest sports league in America, with profits that far exceed any of the others. That’s normally a point of pride for the NFL. However, our officials are substantially under-compensated when compared to baseball and basketball umpires and referees. Our officials also aren’t provided the health care benefits that those at 345 Park Avenue have.” The NFL is offering to hire some full-time officials, but one of the people said the union is resisting and is asking for “full-time pay and part-time hours.” Green told the AP the 2012 and 2019 CBA agreements included provisions that would allow some officials to serve in full-time roles. He said the league experimented with this in 2017, 2019 and 2020. “Each program ended because of their inability to manage it,” Green said. “They could have done full time at any point in the existing CBA and never did. If they want to do it, they need to pay the guys substantially more and provide benefits.” In preparation for the potential use of replacement officials, the NFL competition committee has proposed a contingency that would allow the replay center in New York to advise the on-field officials on any missed roughing the passer or intentional grounding penalty, as well as any act that would have led to an ejection had a penalty been called. NFL owners will vote on the proposal this week at the annual meeting. The NFL used replacement officials for the first three weeks of the 2012 season and that resulted in several mistakes and wrong calls, including the disputed TD catch known as the “Fail Mary.” “No one in the NFL should want to relive 2012,” Green said. ROB MAADDI Maaddi is senior NFL writer for The Associated Press. He’s covered the league for 24 years, including the first two decades as the Eagles beat writer. mailto window.vfQ = window.vfQ || ; // Tags that always block comments on ANY story, regardless of section. Example const COMMENT_BLOCK_TAGS = ; // Section name we care about (as it appears in ). // We'll normalize to lowercase, so "World News" -> "world news". const WORLD_NEWS_SECTION = 'world news'; // Tags that block comments ONLY when the story is in the World News section. const WORLD_NEWS_EXCLUSION_TAGS = ; window.vfQ = window.vfQ || ; // Zephr mod handling + prepublish + login failure handling setTimeout(() => { const all = document.querySelectorAll('.Zephr.Zephr-mod'); // If there's more than one of this element, delete the one with ID if (all.length > 1) { const withId = document.getElementById('viafoura-zephr-mod'); if (withId) withId.remove(); return } // prepublish → Zephr auth / walls handling window.vfQ.push(() => { if (!window.vf || typeof window.vf.$prepublish !== 'function') return; window.vf.$prepublish((channel, event, ...args) => { if (channel === 'authentication' && event === 'required') { window.vf.$publish && window.vf.$publish('tray', 'close'); window.Zephr?.openModal?.(); // window.location.href = `/login?target=${window.location.pathname}` return false; } else if (channel === 'walls' && event === 'post-attempt') { if (window.zephrQueue && typeof window.zephrQueue.enqueue === 'function') { window.zephrQueue.enqueue(async (zephr) => { if ( !zephr?.accessDetails?.authenticated || !window.Zephr?.openModal ) { return; } window.Zephr.openModal(); }); } return { channel, event, args }; } else { return { channel, event, args }; } }); }); // login failure → show ban message + tooltip window.vfQ.push(() => { if (!window.vf || typeof window.vf.$subscribe !== 'function') return; window.vf.$subscribe('login', 'failure', (errorContext) => { if (!errorContext) return; const isBanned = errorContext.error_key === 'login_banned'; if (!isBanned) return; let reasonText = 'Your account has been permanently banned from posting.'; if (errorContext.isPermanent === 0) { const date = new Date(errorContext.endDate); const formatted = date.toLocaleString('en-US', { month: 'short', day: 'numeric', year: 'numeric', hour: 'numeric', minute: '2-digit', hour12: true, }); reasonText = 'Your account has been banned from posting until ' + formatted; } waitForEditorWrapper((wrapper) => { if (wrapper && !document.querySelector('.vf-ban-container')) { const container = document.createElement('div'); container.className = 'vf-ban-container'; // Message const message = document.createElement('div'); message.className = 'vf-ban-message'; message.innerHTML = '❗' + '' + reasonText + ''; // Tooltip trigger if (errorContext.reason) { const tooltip = document.createElement('span'); tooltip.className = 'vf-ban-tooltip'; tooltip.textContent = ' — WHY WAS I BANNED?'; const tooltipContent = document.createElement('div'); tooltipContent.className = 'vf-ban-tooltip-content'; tooltipContent.textContent = errorContext.reason; tooltip.appendChild(tooltipContent); message.appendChild(tooltip); } container.appendChild(message); wrapper.parentNode.insertBefore(container, wrapper.nextSibling); } }); }); }); }, 50); function waitForEditorWrapper(callback, maxTries = 50, interval = 100) { let tries = 0; const iv = setInterval(() => { const wrapper = document.querySelector('.vf-new-content__content-editor-wrapper'); if (wrapper) { clearInterval(iv); callback(wrapper); } else if (++tries >= maxTries) { clearInterval(iv); } }, interval); } function pageHasBlockedTag(tagsToBlock = COMMENT_BLOCK_TAGS) { const metas = Array.from( document.querySelectorAll(', 'meta' ].join(',')) ); const pageTags = metas .map(m => (m.getAttribute('content') || '')) .flatMap(c => c.split(',')) .map(s => s.trim().toLowerCase()) .filter(Boolean); const blockSet = new Set( (tagsToBlock || ).map(t => String(t).trim().toLowerCase()).filter(Boolean) ); return pageTags.some(t => blockSet.has(t)); } function getPageSection() { // Look for // or just in case. const meta = document.querySelector( 'meta, meta' ); if (!meta) return ''; return (meta.getAttribute('content') || '').trim().toLowerCase(); } function replaceBellIconInNav(container) { if (!container) return; const bellButtons = container.querySelectorAll( '.comment-nav-right .vf-tray-trigger.comment-nav-right__icon, .vf-tray-trigger' ); bellButtons.forEach((btn) => { if (btn.dataset.iconSwapped === '1') return; const bellSvg = btn.querySelector('.vf-icon_bell_icon'); if (bellSvg) bellSvg.remove(); const img = document.createElement('img'); img.src = 'https://assets.apnews.com/75/e2/83fe757647f790e4a0bf06370f10/comment-2.png'; img.alt = 'Comments'; img.style.height = '24px'; img.style.width = '24px'; img.style.verticalAlign = 'middle'; img.setAttribute('data-ap-bell', '1'); // precise selector for dark-mode tweak btn.appendChild(img); btn.dataset.iconSwapped = '1'; }); } function injectNoticeInContainer(container) { if (!container) return false; if (container.querySelector('.vf-guidelines-notice')) return true; const header = container.querySelector('.vf-comment-header'); if (!header) return false; const notice = document.createElement('div'); notice.className = 'vf-guidelines-notice'; notice.innerHTML = 'All comments are subject to our ' + 'Community Guidelines.' + 'Please note that comments are not moderated immediately — every post is reviewed before appearing publicly to ensure it meets our community guidelines. This means there may be a delay before your comment is visible.'; header.parentNode.insertBefore(notice, header.nextSibling); return true; } function hideFloatingBellButton() { document.querySelectorAll('.vf-tray-trigger--floating').forEach((btn) => { btn.style.display = 'none'; }); } function moveTrendingAboveCommentsFooter() { const trendingHost = document.getElementById('ap-trending-host'); if (!trendingHost || trendingHost.dataset.moved === '1') return; const footer = document.querySelector('#vf-conversations > div > section > div > footer'); if (footer && footer.parentNode) { footer.parentNode.insertBefore(trendingHost, footer); trendingHost.dataset.moved = '1'; } } function onCommentingLoaded() { const container = document.getElementById('ap-comments'); if (!container) return; injectNoticeInContainer(container); replaceBellIconInNav(container); moveTrendingAboveCommentsFooter(); } function wireViafoura() { if (window.vf && typeof window.vf.$subscribe === 'function') { window.vf.$subscribe('commenting', 'loaded', onCommentingLoaded); } } /* ----------------- DARK THEME HANDLING ----------------- */ function isDarkColor(rgb) { if (!rgb) return false; const m = rgb.match(/rgba?\((\d+),\s*(\d+),\s*(\d+)/i); if (!m) return false; const r = +m, g = +m, b = +m; const lum = (0.2126*r + 0.7152*g + 0.0722*b) / 255; return lum < 0.5; } function shouldUseDarkTheme() { if (document.querySelector('')) return true; const carrier = document.querySelector('') || document.body || document.documentElement; const bg = carrier ? getComputedStyle(carrier).backgroundColor : ''; return isDarkColor(bg); } function getEffectiveDarkBg() { const carrier = document.querySelector('') || document.body || document.documentElement; const bg = carrier ? getComputedStyle(carrier).backgroundColor : ''; return bg && bg !== 'rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)' && bg !== 'transparent' ? bg : '#0b0b0b'; } // NEW: normalize dropdown/menu background in dark mode (solid dark, non-transparent) function fixDarkModeDropdowns() { if (!shouldUseDarkTheme()) return; const bg = getEffectiveDarkBg(); const text = 'rgba(255,255,255,0.85)'; const dropdowns = document.querySelectorAll( ',,.vf-dropdown__menu,.vf-select__menu' ); dropdowns.forEach((el) => { const cs = getComputedStyle(el); const bgColor = cs.backgroundColor; // Only fix ones that are effectively transparent / not already dark if ( bgColor === 'rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)' || bgColor === 'transparent' ) { el.style.setProperty('--default-color', bg); el.style.setProperty('--background-color', bg); el.style.setProperty('--light-text-on-default-color', text); el.style.setProperty('--dark-text-on-default-color', '#ffffff'); el.style.setProperty('--light-text-on-background-color', text); el.style.setProperty('--dark-text-on-background-color', '#ffffff'); el.style.backgroundColor = bg; el.style.color = text; } }); } function applyDarkThemeIfNeeded() { const container = document.getElementById('ap-comments'); if (!container) return; const useDark = shouldUseDarkTheme(); const bg = useDark ? getEffectiveDarkBg() : null; container.classList.toggle('ap-comments--dark', useDark); if (useDark) { container.style.setProperty('--apc-bg', bg); container.style.setProperty('--apc-text', '#e8e8e8'); container.style.setProperty('--apc-link', '#9ecbff'); container.setAttribute('data-theme', 'dark'); container.style.setProperty('background', 'var(--apc-bg)', 'important'); // Normalize Viafoura / AP-style variables INSIDE the comments container container.style.setProperty('--default-color', bg); container.style.setProperty('--background-color', bg); container.style.setProperty('--light-text-on-default-color', 'rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8)'); container.style.setProperty('--dark-text-on-default-color', '#ffffff'); container.style.setProperty('--light-text-on-background-color', 'rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8)'); container.style.setProperty('--dark-text-on-background-color', '#ffffff'); } else { container.removeAttribute('data-theme'); container.style.removeProperty('background'); .forEach(v => container.style.removeProperty(v)); } const elConv = document.getElementById('vf-conv'); const elTrend = document.getElementById('vf-trending'); const realConv = document.querySelector('#vf-conversations'); const realTrend = document.querySelector('#vf-trending-articles'); .forEach(el => { if (!el) return; if (useDark) { el.setAttribute('data-vf-theme', 'dark'); el.setAttribute('vf-theme', 'dark'); el.setAttribute('theme', 'dark'); el.style.removeProperty('background'); el.style.color = 'var(--apc-text)'; } else { .forEach(a => el.removeAttribute(a)); el.style.removeProperty('background'); el.style.removeProperty('color'); } }); .forEach((root) => { if (!root) return; if (useDark) { root.classList.add('ap-vf-dark'); root.setAttribute('data-theme', 'dark'); } else { root.classList.remove('ap-vf-dark'); root.removeAttribute('data-theme'); } }); // fix dropdowns / sort menus any time theme is recalculated if (useDark) { fixDarkModeDropdowns(); } } const vfObserver = new MutationObserver(() => { applyDarkThemeIfNeeded(); }); (function bootComments() { const container = document.getElementById('ap-comments'); if (!container) return; // Initial theme & dropdown fix applyDarkThemeIfNeeded(); // --------- NEW: Global block tags (e.g. no_comment) ---------- // If the page has ANY of the COMMENT_BLOCK_TAGS, hide comments on all stories. if (pageHasBlockedTag(COMMENT_BLOCK_TAGS)) { container.innerHTML = ''; container.classList.remove('viafoura'); container.id = 'comments-hidden'; hideFloatingBellButton(); return; } // --------- NEW: Section-specific logic (World News) ---------- const section = getPageSection(); // Only apply this rule if the story is in World News. if (section === WORLD_NEWS_SECTION) { // If a World News story has any tag in WORLD_NEWS_EXCLUSION_TAGS (e.g. Israel), // hide the embed. Other sections with those tags are still allowed. if (pageHasBlockedTag(WORLD_NEWS_EXCLUSION_TAGS)) { container.innerHTML = ''; container.classList.remove('viafoura'); container.id = 'comments-hidden'; hideFloatingBellButton(); return; } } // --------- Existing Viafoura boot logic ---------- if (!window.vf && !document.querySelector('script')) { const s = document.createElement('script'); s.async = true; s.src = '//cdn.viafoura.net/entry/index.js'; document.head.appendChild(s); } if (document.readyState === 'complete' || document.readyState === 'interactive') { wireViafoura(); } else { document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', wireViafoura); } (function startCappedRetry() { let tries = 0; const maxTries = 120; const iv = setInterval(() => { injectNoticeInContainer(container); replaceBellIconInNav(container); hideFloatingBellButton(); moveTrendingAboveCommentsFooter(); applyDarkThemeIfNeeded(); if (++tries >= maxTries) clearInterval(iv); }, 100); })(); try { vfObserver.observe(container, { childList: true, subtree: true }); } catch (e) {} })(); .vf-guidelines-notice { font-family: var(--primary-font, 'AP', sans-serif); font-size: 1.0em; color: #666; margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding-left: 4px; opacity: 0.85; line-height: 1.4; } .vf-guidelines-notice a { text-decoration: underline; font-weight: 500; } #vf-trending-articles > div > div > h2 { font-size: 14px !important; line-height: 1.2; text-transform: uppercase; } #vf-trending-articles p.vf-trending-article__comment-count { font-size: 16px !important; line-height: 1.1; } #comments-hidden { display: none; } /* ---------- Dark theme for AP comments ---------- */ #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark { --apc-bg: #0b0b0b; --apc-text: #e8e8e8; --apc-muted: #a7a7a7; --apc-border: #2a2a2a; --apc-link: #9ecbff; background: var(--apc-bg) !important; color: var(--apc-text); color-scheme: dark; } /* DO NOT touch every descendant’s colors anymore – that was killing badges/icons */ #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark a { color: var(--apc-link); } #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark a:hover, #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark a:focus { text-decoration: underline; } #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark hr, #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark .vf-divider, #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark .vf-comment + .vf-comment, #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark .vf-card { border-color: var(--apc-border) !important; } #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark .vf-guidelines-notice { color: var(--apc-muted); } #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark #vf-trending-articles > div > div > h2, #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark p.vf-trending-article__comment-count { color: var(--apc-text) !important; } #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark #vf-conversations.ap-vf-dark, #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark #vf-trending-articles.ap-vf-dark { background: transparent !important; color: var(--apc-text) !important; color-scheme: dark; } #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark #vf-conversations, #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark #vf-trending-articles { background-color: var(--apc-bg) !important; } /* Removed “*:not(input)” background/color override so badges keep their own colors */ #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark #vf-conversations section, #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark #vf-conversations article, #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark #vf-conversations header, #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark #vf-conversations footer, #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark #vf-conversations .vf-card, #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark #vf-trending-articles section, #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark #vf-trending-articles article, #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark #vf-trending-articles header, #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark #vf-trending-articles footer, #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark #vf-trending-articles .vf-card { background-color: transparent !important; border-color: var(--apc-border) !important; } #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark .vf-content-editor-form, #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark .vf-editor-area { background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.08) !important; border: 1px solid rgba(255,255,255,0.24) !important; border-radius: 6px !important; } #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark .vf-content-editor-input { color: var(--apc-text) !important; caret-color: var(--apc-text) !important; } #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark .vf-content-editor-input::placeholder { color: #cfcfcf !important; opacity: 1 !important; } #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark .vf-content-editor-input:focus, #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark .vf-editor-area:focus-within { outline: none !important; border-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.36) !important; box-shadow: 0 0 0 2px rgba(255,255,255,0.12) !important; } #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark .vf-dropdown-button, #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark .vf-dropdown-button__text { background-color: transparent !important; color: var(--apc-text) !important; border-color: var(--apc-border) !important; } #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark .vf-dropdown-button:hover, #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark .vf-dropdown-button:focus { background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.06) !important; } /* Only tweak the swapped bell icon in dark mode; leave other badges alone */ #ap-comments.ap-comments--dark .vf-tray-trigger img { filter: invert(1) hue-rotate(180deg) brightness(1.1); opacity: 1; mix-blend-mode: normal; } /* Ban message styles */ .vf-ban-container { margin: 10px 0 15px; padding: 10px 12px; border-radius: 4px; background-color: #fff3cd; border: 1px solid #ffeeba; } .vf-ban-message { font-family: var(--primary-font, 'AP', sans-serif); font-size: 0.95em; color: #856404; display: flex; align-items: center; flex-wrap: wrap; } .vf-ban-icon { margin-right: 8px; } .vf-ban-tooltip { margin-left: 4px; font-weight: 600; text-decoration: underline; cursor: pointer; position: relative; } .vf-ban-tooltip-content { display: none; position: absolute; z-index: 9999; top: 120%; left: 0; width: 260px; padding: 8px 10px; background: #fff; border: 1px solid #ccc; border-radius: 4px; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; color: #333; box-shadow: 0 2px 4px rgba(0,0,0,0.1); } .vf-ban-tooltip:hover .vf-ban-tooltip-content { display: block; }