As a growing contingent of fans spent weeks loudly denouncing the work of the replacement refs on Twitter and had begun to literally call for the NFL to fix the problem before someone got hurt (whether it be on the field or at the hands of their bookies), the NFL had an actual PR problem on its hands. This, above all else, forced both sides to a negotiating table they never wanted to be at in the first place; finally reaching a decision late last night. But in order to understand just what had the owners and referees at odds with one another, it’s important to understand just what the owners and referees wanted from one another.

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