The national political outrage triggered by this week’s controversial Monday Night Football game — led by President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney — ultimately helped get regular National Football League referees back to work, the officials’ top labor union negotiator tells POLITICO.

“It obviously captured the attention of everybody up to the top,” said Scott H. Green, a veteran NFL official and founder of Vienna, Va.-based public affairs firm Lafayette Group who represented the NFL Referees Association during the months-long lockout. “It’s like you have a bucket and you just keep filling it up, and finally, something just tips it over.”