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FILE – Referee Tori Penso, second from right; fourth official Felisha Mariscal, second from left; and assistant referees Brooke Mayo, left, and Corey Rockwell, right, walk onto the field before the Vancouver Whitecaps and Colorado Rapids played in an MLS soccer match Saturday, April 29, 2023, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Major League Soccer will lock out referees after its union rejected a tentative contract, putting Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami on track to open the season next week with replacement officials. The Professional Soccer Referees Association said Saturday, Feb 17, 2023, in a statement that the tentative agreement lacked a sufficient economic package and quality-of-life improvements. The league said PRO will lock out the union on Sunday. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
Major League Soccer (MLS) will lock out referees after its union rejected a tentative contract, putting Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami on track to open the season next week with replacement officials.
The Professional Soccer Referees Association said Saturday that 95.8% voted against a tentative agreement with the Professional Referee Organization, which supplies match officials to MLS, the NWSL and some lower-tier leagues. The union said 97.8% of eligible members voted.
Their previous five-year agreement had been set to expire on Jan. 15, and a pair of brief extensions ended Monday. PRO will lock out the union at 12:01 a.m. EST on Sunday.
“We are left with no choice but to institute a lockout and use qualified non-bargaining unit officials so that games can go ahead as scheduled,” Mark Geiger, the former referee who became PRO’s general manager in February 2023, said in a statement.
Messi and Miami play the MLS opener at home against Real Salt Lake on Wednesday.
The PSRA, which has about 260 members, said the tentative agreement lacked a…
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