On September 26, 2012, an agreement was reached to end the lockout after increasing criticism of the NFL and the performance of the replacement officials, culminating in the infamous "Fail Mary" game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers.
In 2011, the officials' union had planned to exercise a contract clause to reopen negotiations a year early, but this failed to occur due to the 2011 NFL lockout.
[4] By June 2012, the league and the officials' union had not yet come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement, thus failing to resolve the labor dispute.
[13] Beginning in 2013, the NFL will have the option of hiring a to-be-determined number of full-time officials to work year-round, including on the field.
[13] The lockout was temporarily lifted by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell so that Gene Steratore's crew of regular officials could work the Thursday Night Football game between the Cleveland Browns and the Baltimore Ravens on September 27.
[17]The officials' union said that all of its demands amounted to a $3.2 million annual cost to the NFL, roughly four hundredths of a percent of the $9 billion in revenue generated by the league.
Under the previous contract, NFL referees received a defined benefit plan, where retired workers would be guaranteed a fixed amount of income based on the length of their employment.
[19] The referees opposed this change, calling the 401(k) plan "inferior" because it would have reduced the league's funding obligation by 60%, while at the same time shifting additional investment risk to the employees.
[24] The current group of officials are classified as part-time workers, with 90% of NFL referees holding other full-time jobs.
However, following poor on-field performances, the Legends Football League issued a statement indicating that they had previously fired some of the replacement referees due to "incompetent officiating.
San Francisco coach Jim Harbaugh challenged that the 49ers had recovered a fumble by the Minnesota Vikings' Toby Gerhart, which should have been denied since the team was out of timeouts.
[36] In overtime, Detroit Lions defender Stephen Tulloch received a 15-yard penalty for a helmet-to-helmet hit on the Tennessee Titans' Craig Stevens.
[36] During the second quarter, Dallas Cowboys receiver Kevin Ogletree slipped on an official's hat in the end zone while he was trying to catch a pass from Tony Romo.
[38] No penalty was called against Steelers safety Ryan Mundy for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Raiders wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey.
Heyward-Bey was knocked unconscious by the hit, got carted off the field, and spent the night in the hospital with a concussion and a strained neck.
Head coach John Harbaugh was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct for yelling at an official, although he claimed that he was trying to call a timeout.
On the final play of the game, Ravens kicker Justin Tucker hit a game-winning field goal that sailed over the right upright.
[44] On the final play of the week 3 Monday Night Football game between the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks, Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson threw a Hail Mary touchdown pass to wide receiver Golden Tate that officials ruled was simultaneously caught by Packers safety M. D. Jennings.
Prior to the catch, Tate shoved a defender with both hands, which the NFL later acknowledged should have drawn an offensive pass interference penalty that would have negated the touchdown and resulted in a Packers victory.
"[56] A Sporting News poll of 146 players made during the middle of preseason then found that 90.4 percent of them thought that games would be negatively impacted.
[49] Kevin Seifert of ESPN wrote that with the inexperienced replacement referees working the regular season, it is likely that games "will be impacted not by a judgment call—which happens every week of every season—but by an official who either doesn't know all of the NFL's rules or misapplies them.
"[57] After Week 2 of the regular season, the NFLPA sent a message to team owners urging them to end the lockout, making a reference to Goodell's power to fine players for illegal hits: It is lost on us as to how you allow a Commissioner to cavalierly issue suspensions and fines in the name of player health and safety yet permit the wholesale removal of the officials that you trained and entrusted to maintain that very health and safety.
Your actions are looking more and more like simple greed ... You cannot simply switch to a group of cheaper officials and fulfill your legal, moral, and duty obligations to us and our fans.
[60] Lang also raised the possibility of the players taking a knee on every play or engaging in a strike action against the league if the situation was not resolved.
Mike Florio of Profootballtalk.com expressed a cynical opinion about the league's position after Week 1: From the NFL's perspective, [the replacements' mistakes] doesn't matter.
[62]Michael David Smith of Profootballtalk.com defended the replacements' performance after Week 1: Plenty of people have complained about the replacement refs today after watching them make mistakes on Sunday, but it's important to remember that plenty of people complain about the regular refs after every NFL Sunday.
[63]However, Smith was more critical after the Monday Night Football game during Week 2, saying that the replacement referees were "an embarrassment to Roger Goodell and the NFL owners, who are allowing underqualified and unprepared people to tarnish a great league.
"[64] One of the replacements was Shannon Eastin, the first female to ever officiate an NFL game,[65] but writers such as Darin Gantt of Profootballtalk.com and Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times lamented the fact that she broke this gender barrier as one of the strikebreakers.
And even though officials declared the game over and the field cleared, they eventually brought back the teams for a point-after try, without explanation.