Confusion about the NeurIPS 2026 page limit [R]

Hello, I’m preparing a submission for NeurIPS, and I’m a bit confused about the page limit policy stated on the website.

"Papers are limited to eight pages, including figures and tables, in the NeurIPS style. However, an additional ninth page containing only cited references is allowed. Papers departing from the formatting guidelines, and all papers longer than nine (9) pages, or where the ninth page contains text other than references, will be rejected without review."

Does this mean that the main paper (including figures and tables) must be within 8 pages, and the 9th page can contain only references?

But the instructions in the kit below don’t mention anything about references, which is why I’m confused.

https://preview.redd.it/v0e9yy47e7zg1.png?width=1420&format=png&auto=webp&s=d6ccc3bebb80953d906ebfc0eff281ceb474d12b

I’d really appreciate any clarification. Thank you!