IRVING, Texas (AP) — NFL referees are ready to go unnoticed again, just as they
prefer.
The
refs approved a new eight-year contract with the league by a 112-5 vote
Saturday, officially ending a lockout that led to three weeks of
increasingly chaotic games run by replacement officials who drew the
attention of everyone from the average fan to President Barack Obama.
After
a few hours of final preparations with league officials, the next stop
for the referees will be the airport. Most will be heading straight to
their Sunday game sites.
"It was pretty much ‘Come on in and
vote,’" said Scott Green, president of the referees’ association. "We’re

going to talk football now. We’re going to stop talking about CBAs and
lockouts and now we’re going to talk about rules and video and getting
ourselves ready to work football games."
They may get ovations
similar to the one bestowed on the crew that worked Thursday’s
Cleveland-Baltimore game with the tentative deal in place. Before long,
they expect to go back to being mostly anonymous and sometimes hated.
They’re OK with both.
"The last Super Bowl that I worked, when we
got in the locker room, I said, ‘You know, the best thing about this
game, nobody will remember who refereed this game,’" Green said. "That’s

how we like to work."
The referees met for about an hour and a
half Friday night to go over the contract, then gathered for another 30
minutes Saturday morning before approving the contract.
"We are obviously pleased to hear it," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in an
email to The Associated Press on Saturday.
Because
they were aware of the financial parameters, most of the discussion by
the referees involved non-economic issues such as year-round work and
developmental squads, said Tim Millis, the association’s executive
director.
The deal came quickly this week after an increasing
chorus of complaints became impossible to ignore when a disputed
touchdown call on the final play gave the Seattle Seahawks a victory
over the Green Bay Packers on national television Monday night. Many
thought the ruling of a Seattle touchdown instead of a Green Bay
interception was botched, and the labor dispute drew public comments
from Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
By late
Wednesday, the sides had a contract calling for refs’ salaries to
increase from an average of $149,000 a year in 2011 to $173,000 in 2013,
rising to $205,000 by 2019. The current defined benefit pension plan
will remain in place for current officials through the 2016 season or
until the official earns 20 years’ service.
The defined benefit
plan will then be frozen. Retirement benefits will be provided for new
hires, and for all officials beginning in 2017, through a defined
contribution.
Beginning with the 2013 season, the NFL will have
the option to hire a number of officials to work year-round. The NFL
also can retain additional officials for training and development and
assign those officials to work games. The number of additional officials
will be determined by the league.
The officials that worked
Thursday’s Ravens-Browns game were cheered from the moment they walked
onto the field. The difference between the regular crew and replacements
was clear. The officials kept the game in control, curtailing the
chippy play and choppy pace that had marred the first three weeks of the
regular season.
"I think the thing we’re most proud of is the
lesson that we all learned," Green said. "If you’re going to be in a
professional league, you’ve got top-notch coaches, you need professional
officials as well."
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.