About those replacement refs http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2012/09/about-those-nfl-replacement-refs.html
Here is Mortensen:
"The NFL and the NFL Referees Association made enough progress in negotiations Tuesday night that the possibility of the locked-out officials returning in time to work this week's games has been discussed, according to sources on both sides.
An agreement in principle is at hand, according to one source familiar to talks, although NFL owners have postured with a "no more compromise" stance.
"Although league sources said it would take a week to get the locked-out officials on the field, the NFLRA says its 121 referees have been trained on the new rules implemented last season, have already passed physicals or are prepared to pass physicals immediately. New official game uniforms designed by Nike are "hardly an obstacle," according to a source.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/report-locked-out-nfl-refs-could-return-this
After all, the no compromises stance was prior to the backlash of Green Bay-Seattle. Maybe the words no more compromises has a different meaning before and after Green Bay-Seattle.
As CNBC explains it, Roger Goodell, the NFL Commissioner since 2006 is between a rock and a hardplace here in trying to navigate this. He is ultimately selected by the 32 owners which might suggest the difficulties in trying to negotiate between the parties.
"When Roger Goodell became the commissioner of the National Football League in 2006, he made protecting certain aspects of the sport’s good name his consuming aim. He was concerned with the fan experience at stadiums as well as the behavior of players in bars. Goodell wanted a league populated by upstanding citizens who provided captivating entertainment while, not incidentally, generating great business, too."
"To that end, Goodell has risked lawsuits over his tough punishments for a bounty scandal; he has suspended or otherwise disciplined some of the N.F.L.’s most popular players; and he brokered the deal that ended the long, bitter lockout of the league’s players last year."
"Today Goodell is overseeing a
remarkable fiasco, one that, to a considerable degree, is of the league’s own
making: the embarrassment of replacement officials. That the lockout of the
experienced and unionized officials has lingered, even as the game’s reputation
has been stained, suggests that in a 21st century N.F.L., the commissioner’s
power is more nuanced than in the past."
"The lockout was sought and is now
being enforced by the owners, some of them hard-line, deep-pocketed businessmen
with limited N.F.L. roots and an earned taste for having things their own way,
whatever the cost."
The owners are driving the kind of hard bargain we're used to seeing other employers draw against unions in recent years:
"The league wants a deal that not
only eliminates pensions for officials, to be replaced by 401(k)’s, but also
gives the league flexibility to replace the officials it believes are
underperforming. It is, the league has said, part of Goodell’s plan to improve
officiating for the long term, to reduce the bad calls that even regular
officials make. In a repeat of the players’ lockout last year, those who know
the commissioner said, Goodell entered this lockout in June expecting criticism,
but willing to take the short-term pain in order to get the right agreement."
NFL fans love their league, I speak as a big fan myself. Still, I don't know that they can afford many more debacles on the level of Monday night. Maybe this is why we're hearing this story from Mortensen.
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