Image: AP

The NFL’s long nationally-televised nightmare is over.

After two full days of face-to-face talks following Monday’s phone conversations, the league and the NFL Referees Association reached an agreement to end the three-month lockout and send the regular officials back to work for this week’s slate of games, beginning with Thursday night’s matchup between the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens.

The new agreement is for eight years and runs through the 2019 season, the longest such contract between the NFL and the officials in league history.

More from Mike Garafolo, USA TODAY Sports

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