The negotiations with officials were conducted largely by Goodell and the league’s top lawyer, Jeff Pash, with little of the direct owner involvement that was featured during negotiations with the players last year.

The latest round of talks began last Saturday. On Monday, before the Packers game, the sides agreed to meet again on Tuesday. Once the talks began that morning, they took on a new urgency with some owners, who were concerned about the damage being done to the league’s credibility by the replacements. The sides met for 17 hours on Tuesday and went well into the night on Wednesday.

The lockout began in June, and while a fight over the officials’ pensions was the most prominent hurdle — and the final one that the sides worked on late Wednesday — the league also sought more control over grooming and replacing officials, in the name of improving officiating long term.

But as officiating and the control of the games deteriorated with each week, Goodell came under withering fire, which reached a peak on Tuesday morning. The level of the uproar seemed to take some owners by surprise, but there was little question Wednesday night that it spurred them into action. The Colts owner Jim Irsay wrote on his Twitter feed that owners were “desperately trying” to get a deal done. “Let’s be clear, when our N.F.L. fans talk, we listen,” Irsay said. “If you’re unhappy, we’re unhappy ... we’re here to serve you. Everything we do is to please you!”