The NFL and NFLRA Thursday "disputed such issues as full-time employees and adding officiating crews," according to Barry Wilner of the AP. The union in a statement said, "The NFLRA is not opposed to full time officials if they are fairly compensated. While the NFL has never made any compensation proposal, comparable positions in other professional sports at the 20-year level earn approximately $350,000 to $400,000 and are provided health insurance, a pension, time off with pay and numerous other benefits." The union also "disputes the value of the league's current salary offer, which it says would not be a 5 percent to 11 percent increase." Instead, the officials said the proposal "includes aggregate game fee compensation increases of 2.82 percent per year, not the rates publicly claimed by the league." The NFL's proposal "does not contain any salary schedule." Rather it "contains aggregate game fees for all officials to be paid per a schedule to be developed by the NFLRA." NFL Senior VP/PR Greg Aiello "countered that officials would receive continuing increases in every category of pay, from game fees to travel and meeting fees, and, depending on how the NFLRA decided to allocate the salary pool, individual officials could expect annual increases of between 5 and 11 percent" (AP, 8/16).
