NFL Replacement Refs Reportedly Wouldn't Come From Top CFB Leagues if CBA Talks Fail

The NFL isn't expected to utilize officials from Division I FBS if they have to onboard replacement referees amid their contract dispute with the NFL Referees Association, per a report from Chris Vannini of The Athletic.

"If the NFL uses replacement referees this fall amid a labor dispute with game officials, the highest division of college football is not expected to lose officials or be impacted, a half-dozen college sports administrators and officials confirmed to The Athletic.

"The expectation has long been that the NFL would use lower-division college officials or retired officials, as it did during the 2012 referee work stoppage."

The current collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and NFLRA expires on Sunday, May 31.

The NFL is basically running two parallel tracks at the moment.

In one lane, the negotiations between the NFL and NFLRA continue. There's been good news on that front, as reported by ESPN's Kevin Seifert on Wednesday.

"The NFL distributed crew assignments to referees this week amid indications of continued progress toward a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Referees Association," Seifert wrote.

"The assignments did not include any of the replacement officials the league has onboarded and vetted in preparation for a potential lockout. The league's officiating department has planned to start training those replacement officials beginning Friday. The existing CBA between the sides is due to expire May 31."

One can guess that progress is being made if the NFL included current officials on those crew assignments.

That isn't the only good news from April, as Seifert had this to say about a productive meeting on the 10th.

On the flip side, the league needs to do its due diligence and ensure replacement officials are ready to go if negotiations don't lead to a new CBA.

So the league is doing just that. According to Seifert, NFL senior vice president of officiating told teams in an April 15 memo that the league began onboarding potential replacement officials.

The NFL also previously enacted new rules at league meetings that would give staff members at the league's New York City headquarters "broad authority" to help replacement referees via video feeds.

The league previously had to go with replacement officials for the first three weeks of the 2012 season. There's a possibility the season can start with replacement refs again, but there seems to be lights at the end of the tunnel. We do know, though, that any replacements would not be from the Division I-FBS level.