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Official who worked Seahawks-Cardinals game has ties to Seattle

An NFL replacement official who worked Week 1's Seattle Seahawks-Arizona Cardinals game as a field judge, has officiated Seahawks regular-season practices for the past three years -- and therefore received paychecks from the team -- according to two sources affiliated with the locked-out referees.

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That presents a conflict of interest the NFL strictly forbids.

Regular NFL officials are under strict guidelines to work only training-camp practices, with the NFL paying them for those to avoid bias. Those are the only occasions that the regular officials are allowed to be at team facilities outside of game day.

The NFL declined comment when reached on the matter. A Seahawks spokesman said via email, "Since Pete's arrival, we have had officials come in and work practice."

He declined to confirm if Sadorus worked for the team at any point but conceded it was "plausible."

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