NEWS: Referee lockout ends

You can now feel slightly less guilty about the things you say during games

The Professional Soccer Referees Association (PRSA) voted to ratify a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Professional Referee Organization (PRO) on Monday night. The deal ends a month-long lockout that saw picket line-breaking and inexperienced referees in charge of four Atlanta United matches.

Your regularly scheduled referees will return to the field across the league for this upcoming matchday. While the replacement referees avoided disaster in four Atlanta United matches, there were multiple incidents across the league over the last month in which critical mistakes altered the outcomes of games. Additionally, players indicated discomfort with the lack of game management from the replacements, one ref needed to be replaced before an Inter Miami match when pictures surfaced of him wearing an Inter Miami jersey, and things were altogether a little weird.

The return of full-time referees likely means that previously delayed changes to matchday procedures will go into effect soon.

• An “Off-Field Treatment rule” will require players who are on the ground for more than 15 seconds after injury to stay on the sidelines for a minimum of two minutes for further assessment and treatment. The rule excludes goalkeepers and fouls resulting in a card.

• Players who “simultaneously incur head injuries requiring off-field treatment” will be held off the pitch until both players’ medical evaluations have been completed.

• VAR decisions will be announced by the head referee, a la American Gridiron Football.

You can see the full breakdown of changes here.

Congrats to the folks who worked toward a fair deal. And thank goodness all this is over and no one will ever have to complain about refereeing again.