The relationship between the NFL and UFL continues to grow stronger as the spring football league establishes itself as a critical piece to the ecosystem of the sport.
A recent ESPN article looked at the new CBA deal that the NFL Referees Association and the league agreed upon that has plenty that was added to it, including a practice squad made up of 12 game officials. Part of the article, though, that might interest UFL fans is that they may be playing a small part of the development of the referees.
"(Ramon) George said the shortened offseason is "really centered around individuals who underperformed during the season, and were not assigned to a playoff assignment," and those officials will begin to work with their supervisors immediately after the regular season to review each of their calls and identify mistakes in mechanics and positioning. After the review, if necessary, George said he will assign officials to work in the UFL."
UFL is now helping the NFL in developing referees
UFL co-owner Mike Repole has been proud to call the UFL a "developmental" league, and it appears the league will be doing more than just developing players and coaches. This league can now be seen as a learning center for the referees as well.
The idea of first having a practice squad of referees is reminding XFL 2.0 fans of the ninth team they had that was filled with players who stayed ready to play in case players on the main eight teams got hurt. It might cost the XFL more money to pay a coach and players, but that such an innovative idea at the time and it appears to be spreading to officials now.
This is exactly the kind of work the UFL should be getting involved in as they should be helping the NFL in anyway. Working with their officials might lead to a potential partnership with the players association and letting practice squad players play in the UFL. That might be more of a stretch since the AAF tried that in 2019 with the NFL and failed.
Watch for this relationship between the UFL and NFL to continue to grove as the NFL helps themselves to the innovative rules the UFL creates while working together on developing referees.