What makes you think that this is coming directly from the NFLRA? You must not be aware of who are the people over college conference or their loyalties to those that either once worked for them or what professional ties they have to those in the NFL. Better yet, if you are in independent contractor and you leave your job with no idea if and when you will come back, are the assignors supposed to hold your position for you? The WH in the Hall of Fame game was a crew chief at the D3 level in the same "alliance" as the people that assign the Big Ten, MAC and MVC. He had a a lot of responsibility as a crew chief and his opportunity to work at the level he was working affected a lot of people. His assignor had to replace him and had to replace some of his responsibilities. You think when this is over and possibly in the middle of the season they are just going to give him his job back as if nothing happened? I would not expect that treatment no matter why he was leaving even if he had some other reason for leaving where the end of that situation was totally unclear. And that does not include who the assignors are and their association with the NFL either in the past or currently. No different than the choice those 8 NFL position trainers made by refusing to do their job based on this situation. We all make choices and this was a choice many of those had the opportunity to make.

Peace

You don't think it would be a bigger favor to NOT work - giving the NFLRA a much more immediate position of power?

Maybe you mean something else - you should look up the word extortion. It neither fits the situation at hand nor even fits the quote you followed it with.

Um, yeah... definitely look that word up. I don't think that word means what you think it does. (Nod to Inigo Montoya)

The only power the NFLRA has is the difference in quality between them and the replacements. If it weren't for them threatening the D1 officials with being blacklisted, they would have no power. Time is more on the owner's side than the referees.

That threat is extortion. As Merriam-Webster puts it "to obtain from a person by force, intimidation, or undue or illegal power." It may not be the best word, but I think it fits.

I think the NFLRA is morally wrong to blacklist those who disagree with them that they are underpaid.

They do not have the power to blacklist anyone from the NFL. This is not MLB where the guys get to choose when they leave the game and in some cases pick their replacement. The NFL will get rid of officials and replace them with whomever they damn well please. It is their D1 supervisors that have the power in this case. If D1 officials give up their spot they might not get it back at all.

This is the wrong word for this issue. There might be some implied pressure, but not the way the system works. And it is not illegal to suggest that if you do something it could hurt your career. That happens even at our level. Heck if you want to move up for a lower level game and you have a contract, you must get the assignors or supervisors to release you if you move up. Then some assignors might not hire you anymore if you break contracts. That is not extortion, that is making a personal decision and knowing the consequences. It is the conferences these officials work for that have the power, not the NFLRA. The NFL hires officials not the NFLRA.

Peace

It's not illegal, no. Immoral, yes.

Immoral? No. It is business and those made a business decision.

Peace

The didn't ask them because the majority of those conferences are supervised by current or former NFL referees.

Correct and I'm sure they did not want to create a conflict for those officials becase they are the most likely pool for future NFL regular hires.

I really got tired of all the attention she got last night. In my eyes nothing more than a scab. And to hear her mentioned in the same breath as Violet Palmer (NBA official) is an insult to Violet. I am curious as to where Violet stands on this. Is she happy to see a woman working thesse games or does she think she is nothing more than pond scum ?????

I missed the game - how were the officials?

Don't forget Dee Kantner either! ;)

The network, REALLY, went out of their way to try and either call her by name. Heck, they even spent almost five minutes telling us about her playing in The World Series Of Poker and how that didn't DQ her from working in the NFL and that the league also did extensive background checks on all its officials. Speaking of which:

Pereira says Eastin “never would have been hired” under normal procedures | ProFootballTalk

Mr. Pereira has been real critical of the NFL including claims of that they're embellishing some of the replacement officials' credentials:

Pereira says NFL is embellishing the credentials of replacement officials | ProFootballTalk

I didn't really notice much in the Packers v. Chargers game.

The call people are going to be talking about is in the Bills v. Redskins game, which featured an official calling a touchback when the ball was downed on the 4 yard line. They put the ball on the 20 and it necessitated a challenge from the Bills to get the spot corrected.

Wait, what happened to the ball (the entire flight)? You say the ball was downed at the 4, but did other things happen to confuse the crew? (Main reason I ask is that in most cases, this is the same rule at all levels from NFL to pee-wee.)