Sources: NFL, far apart with NFLRA, to begin hiring replacement refs - ESPN

PHOENIX — NFL owners are «alarmed» by the state of negotiations with the NFL Referees Association and have authorized staff members to begin hiring and onboarding replacement officials in the coming weeks, league sources said Sunday at the start of the league meetings.

The NFL began compiling a list of college-level officials to recruit earlier this month, and owners are expected this week to approve a sweeping set of replay enhancements to support replacement officials in preseason and regular-season games. A separate league source said that training of the new replacement officials will begin May 1.

Once that happens, a source said: «The opportunity to reach an agreement with our current union becomes a bigger challenge, just from simple economics.»

That effectively leaves about a month for the sides to bridge what league sources said are wide gaps in their proposals, from economics to the seasonal structure of the job.

NFLRA executive director Scott Green did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The NFL's collective bargaining agreement with the NFLRA expires May 31. The league sent a memo to each club last week prohibiting public comment on the situation. But as owners, league officials and team staffers gathered this weekend at the Arizona Biltmore resort, sources painted a dire portrait of the likelihood of an agreement before replacement officials are hired.

One of the league sources said the league office is expecting and preparing for a lockout.

«We are so close to expiration and so far apart on economics, that unless an act of God gets involved...» the source said.

During the last lockout in 2012, a league source said the league's mistake was waiting until July to prepare for replacement officials.