NFL owners will gather for annual meetings in Arizona, but discussion around one important subject will be off limits.The league and the NFL Referees Association (NFLRA) are said to be ‘far apart’ in negotiations over a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) for officials.The NFL and NFLPA are said to be far apart in negotiations over a new CBAGettyOngoing labor talks between the two parties broke off earlier than scheduled last week, as no progress was made towards a deal.The NFLRA’s CBA expires May 31, and the distance between the sides has prompted ‘alarm’ amongst team owners.However, they will be unable to discuss the situation during Spring meetings in Phoenix.‘Alarmed’ teams owners told to zip it over CBA talksAs executives began to gather in the desert, ESPN reported Sunday that the NFL has issued a memo ‘prohibiting’ public comment on the CBA negotiations with the NFLRA.“The memo stressed that while the league has the highest regard for the game officials, officiating must improve, and that the NFL proposal would enhance the ability to hold the officials accountable for their performance while offering generous compensation packages,” NFL insider Adam Schefter posted on X.It’s little surprise that the league has moved to prohibit noise around the ‘sensitive’ discussions, especially given owners, coaches, and general managers are already interacting with reporters at the luxury Arizona Biltmore resort.Anyone who will have been expected to answer questions on the record now has an easy out.Owners, though, are said to be worried over the state of negotiations, with the NFL prepared to hire replacement referees for the upcoming 2026 season.“The owners are alarmed that this negotiation has been as challenging as it’s been,” a league source told ESPN.“They are alarmed that the union has resisted the performance and accountability measures.”A lack of movement between the NFL and NFLPA is said to be ‘alarming’ to ownersGettyESPN’s report also notes the NFL began compiling a list of college-level officials to recruit earlier this month, and owners are expected to this week approve a set of replay enhancements to support the replacement officials.Training of the new referees will begin May 1, and that will leave around one month for the NFL and NFLPA to bridge what is said to be wide gaps in their CBA proposals.Use of replacement officials in 2012, during the last lockout which lasted three weeks into the regular season, was heavily criticized by coaches and players.Why are the two parties far apart in negotiations over a new CBA?Reports suggest the league has offered officials a six-year deal that averages annual raises of 6.45%. The average NFL ref is said to have earned $385,000 in 2025.The league has also pushed the NFLRA to make fundamental changes to job structure, which has largely been resisted.Measures include increasing the probationary period for new officials from three to five years, and shortening the ‘dead period’ during the offseason.Officials are against the idea of the NFL making ‘fundamental changes’ to job structureGettyThe latter would allow for more training, including a requirement for lower-performing officials to work spring football games to help improve their performances.The league is also said to want to reduce the ‘seniority-based approach’ to covering playoff games, and to replace it with assignments based on performance.NFL insider Tom Pelissero reported on Sunday that the NFLRA is ‘insisting’ on a 10% annual growth rate, and ‘continues to resist’ the above measures.A statement from NFLRA executive director Scott Green has since disputed some of the reporting around the negotiations.The NFL is preparing to draft in replacement officials as a lockout loomsGetty“Apparently ‘league sources’ are continuing to put out false and misleading information instead of wanting to meet at the negotiating table,” he said, in a follow up post shared by Pelissero.“The bottom line is our officials work for the wealthiest sports league in America, with profits that far exceed any of the others. That’s normally a point of pride for the NFL.“However, our officials are substantially under-compensated when compared to baseball and basketball umpires and referees. Our officials also aren’t provided the health care benefits that those at 345 Park Avenue (the NFL’s corporate office) have.“As far as performance pay, we had ‘high performing officials’ who worked this year’s Championship games and the Super Bowl who were paid less for those games than what they were paid for a regular season game.“That certainly isn’t rewarding performance, as the NFL claims is their goal.”With the 2026 season edging closer, all signs appear to point towards a lockout, and it comes as little surprise that the league is looking to onboard replacement referees this summer.Stay up to date with the latest from the NFL across all platforms – follow our dedicated talkSPORT USA Facebook page and subscribe to our talkSPORT USA YouTube channel for all the news, exclusives, interviews and more.