The NFL is reportedly considering using replacement referees if a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) isn’t reached. Pat McAfee, for one, wants no part of such a plan.
Much like it did in 2012, with spectacularly bad results (“Fail Mary,” anyone?), the NFL is considering using replacement referees in 2026. Because of the struggle to reach a new labor agreement with the NFL Referees Association (NFLRA), the league is reportedly compiling a list of potential replacement referees, mostly from small colleges.
The current collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and NFLRA expires at the end of May. This means these substitute referees may start training with the NFL as soon as April, in preparation for the September start of the 2026 regular season.
According to Kevin Seifert of ESPN, “To help mitigate their inexperience at the NFL level, the league’s competition committee is finalizing a series of contingent rule changes that would allow league employees at the Art McNally Gameday Central command center in New York City to enforce health and safety penalties, among others, sources said — an aggressive move toward centralized officiating after years of small steps.”
Pat McAfee among those who do not want to see NFL replacement referees
While that might make it a better situation than in 2012 with replacement referees, many fans, including former NFL player Pat McAfee, are praying that and the NFLRA will come to some sort of agreement.
“NOPE,” McAfee wrote on X. “WE CAN’T BE DOING REPLACEMENT HIGH SCHOOL REFS IN THE NFL AGAIN. @NFL, time to start the retired player pipeline. FOR THE GOOD OF BALL.”
McAfee added in an accompanying video, “Nope! Can’t be doing that! Can’t be doing that.
“What we need is these refs to understand that they’re not perfect. We want them to adapt with the modern technology. We want them to be for the good of the game, not just for the good of each other, okay?
“Come on refs, we need you. But we also need you not to be a– in the biggest moments. We need you to care about the game; we need you to have a little bit of feel. We need you to be committed to what ball is. And there’s a lot of you out there who are, and we appreciate that.
“But if you’re just going to hold that line with the union because you want to hold the NFL hostage, and you’re going to let ball have what we had with high school f—— refs calling games?”
Pat McAfee remembers how bad the replacement referees were in 2012
“Those were terrible days in the NFL,” McAfee added. “I was there, I wasn’t there for the f—— Fail Mary. I mean, that was dumb. Just like the smallest things, though,” he continued. “Punter, you punt the ball out of bounds, the refs are telling where the ball goes out of bounds at. I got some f—— junior high ref, okay, because no college refs would do it because they didn’t want to … be a scab. So any college ref that could potentially be an NFL ref didn’t want to do it because they didn’t want to f—— p— off the union. They didn’t want to be a scab, okay?”
Pat McAfee continued on, saying there is no way the NFL can hire junior high and high school referees again.
“That can’t happen. That cannot happen. But we also can’t just hand over complete control and lack of accountability to these refs. We need to work together for the good of ball,” McAfee concluded.