NFL rumors: How Jerry Jones, other owners created ‘real change’ in officials’ new CBA

Recently, the NFL and the league’s referees association agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement that would keep both sides on the same page up through the 2032 season. The agreement came after disputes throughout this offseason from both sides regarding compensation, accountability for officials, and other factors.

Now, more information is coming to light from Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer on how some of the league’s billionaire owners used their wealth and status to help accelerate talks this offseason.

Breer reported that in late March, “…guys with the power to do whatever they want then came to the table. And to the credit of Dallas’s Jerry and Stephen Jones, Kansas City’s Clark Hunt and Tampa Bay’s Joel Glazer, they came ready to enact real change, with the message that they’d be more than willing to reach into their pockets to create that change. The owners pushed for more measures from the start that would lead to a higher level of performance and accountability if there was failure to reach that level.”

Breer also reported on some other measures that the officials wanted put in place that the owners helped provide, including “…giving the officials a significant bump in pay and benefits on just about every level in exchange for more training, more access, more standards and a bench.”

Officiating has been one of the hot topics of the NFL dating back seemingly forever, with every fanbase in the league feeling like they have been the victim of poor referee performance at one point or another.

As the league’s rulebook continues to change seemingly on a yearly basis and controversy figures to only increase from there, it’s good to see that the NFL and its officials were able to work something out long-term before the 2026 season gets underway.

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