Everybody Lies - The NFL Referee Holdout
by Ryan Henry A well-renown, pill-popping, New Jersey-based, television doctor had a saying: “Everyone lies.” While this may not be perfectly true, it certainly holds whenever people are talking about labor disputes or contract holdouts. It is the reason why when Maurice Jones-Drew said that his contract holdout wasn’t entirely about the money, nobody believed him. It is also why when the NFL and their referees say that it is only about the money we should be skeptical. First down! Source: nfl.com Right now, referees get paid about $3000 per game with the some of the referees making up to $140,000 per year. The NFL wants to increase the number of available NFL-approved referees and replace the pension that was part of the CBA the negotiated back in 2006 and put in place a defined contribution 401(k) valued somewhere between $16,000 and $22,000, according to ESPN.com. The league is citing a downturning “economic environment,” which is the same argument they used against ...