Why are the NFL refs locked out? It's all in the game

But both seem to be coordinating arguments about player's safety as the most compelling reason to end the lockout. As NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith said, "The officials are being asked to be first responders on the field for player safety as well as to officiate the games. How do you expect officials not used to doing games at that level to be able to step in and handle the job? To use a [lockout] as a motivational tactic in negotiations...we find repulsive."

However, like the high-skilled workers at a Honeywell uranium plant in Metropolis, Illinois, learned after a fourteen-month lockout, today's bosses rarely listen to appeals about safety. Furthermore, as they learned, the longer the lockout drags on, the more time employers have to increase the quality of their replacement workers. The quality of the godawful refereeing on display will, with time, improve as well.

John Paul Smith, who was one of those Honeywell workers that suffered through the lockout, which ended in August of 2011, says now that having been through the pain of a lockout himself, there is no way he could watch the NFL this year. John Paul Smith is now calling on other fans to boycott watching as well, knowing that the only way to make the owners back off is if they feel it in their wallets.

"I have been a Dolphins fan since I was in the fifth grade and I can't watch shit. It's killing me," said Smith. If Goodell and friends don't care about the refs, the health of their players, or the quality of the games, then maybe they'll care about that: people like John Paul Smith turning away from the game until NFL owners remember that owning the game doesn't mean owning the people who officiate it.

Named one of UTNE Reader's "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Our World," Dave Zirin is the sports editor for The Nation magazine. Mike Elk is a labor journalist and third-generation union organizer based in Washington, D.C. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the authors.

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[jekyllisland]

We need to give those NFL refs their pensions since the keep a game in orderly fashion and while we are at it we should demand that those that teach our children receive nothing.

Does anyone find this odd?

Our nation is picking sides for part time employees who have other jobs that pay real well to get a pension while demanding that teachers get zilch.

We are at the end

[clydealan2]

I do not know crap about football though I have not missed a game on TV for a couple of decades or better. But even my untrained eyes behold a sick and sorry mess on the games I've seen so far because of the back-up refs. Tonight Green Bay won against Seattle. A trainee ref saw it differently - it is sickening. It just is not a football game any longer; it's a game of luck - pure luck.

[TexFandango]

One of the least objective and most disingenuous pieces I've read in months. This is not an article so much as it is an editorial for the AFL-CIO. CBS would benefit its readers if it provided a balanced perspective of this dispute rather than this palaver.

[blang_us]

I agree!

[87lwrdr]

I don't understand why the owners don't want a quality product like the officials handling what they consider the ultimate product their NFL teams. We had an owner in Cleveland, Randy Lerner who bought out more coaches contracts in the last 10 years to pay all the refs salaries for the next 20 years or longer, where's the sense in that? I'll bet if you could total the amounts ALL the teams have spent in contract buy outs since 2006 the amount would be staggering. The refs demands wouldn't be a drop in the bucket compared to those numbers. The NFL and the owners are going to destroy it's product with idiotic decisions like this. Would the want a first year med student performing open heart surgery on them or would they want the real deal?

[Rafterman11]

This is all full of s**t. Every week in past seasons, the regular refs are blasted by the fans and media as being horrible and these replacements are doing no worse. The average fan has noticed little difference in the quality of the officiating this preseason. If there is a perception they are worse, its probably because they are under the microscope more for being replacements.

I'm normally pro-union, but the regular refs should watch it, or they my end up like Reagan's air traffic controllers - fired. The new guys are good enough now and will get better. H3ll, being an NFL ref? I'd do it for free, how cool would that be? Just pay my air fare to and from the game.

[nurserobn13]

How do part-time workers get to be unionized anyway? Think of the poor workers at Mickey D's and Walmart, etc making minimum wage. How they would like to make several thousand dollars for a few hours of work. It's not only the NFL who's greedy, it's the ref's, players, teams, etc. I can't afford to go to games anymore. It's just a "game". It's not like football, or any sport contributes to the quality of life.

[Iopine]

The story is co-written by a sports editor and a 3rd generation union-activist... First, the single biggest problem America must deal with soon is that far too many are willing to say "Yes" (here, yes, pay the officials what they want and provide defined benefit retirement plans). How about taking a stand to say, "No", it's not a prudent financial decision (or no, son, you can't take the car, or no, we do not need an 80" set to see the Patriots this year). Second, the writers confuse referee experience with whether they have joined the union. Only unionized officials have been allowed to ref games for many years. In effect, your argument calls for an end to unions so as to increase overall experience - and avoid lockouts completely. Can you see it?

[blang_us]

well said!

[radicalhippie]

I would donate left body parts if the players didn't cross the picket line on opening day :-)

[Concerned2009]

If Scabs are doing the officiating I won't be buying my 2 season tickets. Guess I'll spend the money watching Netflix and whatever else I want to see.

[powers2be]

If you really had 2 season tickets you wouldn't be making ignorant i.e. lacking knowledge comments. Those of us with season tickets know that you would have had to already pony up your money and it is too late to get your money back since they have played 3 games already. So next time at least be honest when you chip in your 2 cents.

[wbstore]

Only a left wing liberal hypocritical entity like CBS could evaluate this issue and make it purely a political commentary. It is always about the "have" and the "have nots". Pure and simple let's make this all about the 1%'s all the time. I do not understand how all of the left wing liberal in Hollywood get away with making BIG money and no one complains about how they got thier money nor what they do with it. Funny how things work that way when you are a Democrat.

[Rafterman11]

Yep, when in doubt, play the "left wing media" card. Then you never have to take responsibility for anything you do. Brought to you by the GOP - the "Party of Personal Responsibility". Except when they are blaming the media, unions, gay people, immigrants, teachers, minorities and Obama for everything they do wrong.