MLS referees will return this weekend following CBA agreement

After five weeks, the Major League Soccer referee lockout is over.

On Monday night, the Professional Soccer Referees Association union and Professional Referees Organization officially came to an agreement more than two months after PSRA had rejected a deal ahead of the season.

The agreement opens up MLS to bring back league-qualified referees this weekend. It also will end the weeks-long use of replacement referees, who had filled in at center and assistant referee positions for the beginning of the season with mixed results.

According to a statement released by PRO on Tuesday, both sides reached a tentative agreement last week and PSRA members voted to accept the deal Monday.

According to The Athletic, the new CBA gives PSRA referees a significant pay raise. Those with less than two years of MLS experience, for example, will get a 68% raise to a base pay of $85,150 this season, with additional raises by the end of the agreement. Officials will also earn match fees – a minimum of 15 per season guaranteed – and will get small gains in flight and travel accommodations for MLS Decision Day and the playoffs.

It's a win for both sides following weeks of discussions that turned occasionally bitter and an agreement that seemed impossible at times. As PRO GM Mark Geiger put it in a statement, "It has been a difficult time for everyone as we worked to reach an agreement."

Fans and players alike will be pleased to see MLS refs return after weeks of replacement referees, who have often made questionable calls.

Across five weeks and with 29 teams, MLS played 70 games with replacement referees, who called an inordinate number of red cards, including six last weekend alone. With the PSRA referees back, the officiating will (theoretically) return to MLS-quality.

The deal runs through Jan. 31, 2031, giving the PSRA and PRO several years of leeway before another agreement must be made.