Two more seasons remain on the 2011 CBA, and the NFL and NFLPA will begin an effort to hammer out a new agreement as early as this offseason.
The sides will begin talks in a few weeks, with John Mara informing ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano the league and the union are expected to begin talks in April (Twitter link). Starting talks this soon, a previously rumored scenario, would be a key development. The 2011 negotiations obviously featured extensive contention.
Eight years ago, the owners locked out the players, causing a several-month work stoppage that ended in a late-July agreement. That prompted a frenzied offseason, with free agency being put on hold until just before training camps began. This time around, the NFLPA has consistently advised players to prepare for a lockout. That was still the case earlier this year.
Some of the players’ goals include increasing their overall revenue from the 47 percent threshold which was established by the 2011 agreement, avenues that would bring more guaranteed money into contracts, addressing the length of time it takes to become a free agent — particularly with the fifth-year option in mind — and potential updates to the drug policy, Graziano notes.
These discussions will not involve extending the current CBA, NFLPA president Eric Winston tweets.
Talks starting this year would go a long way toward preventing another lockout, but given all that has transpired between the league and the union this decade, it would appear unlikely an agreement comes together soon.
I don’t understand why the players are giving their own union pushback on the concepts of saving and paying down or avoiding debt. These are millionaires. How hard could it be?
unions = rigged system
no unions = wage slavery
There is generally more fan backlash directed at owners when a lockout occurs. The only winners in that scenario would be the AAF and the XFL (assuming they are still in operation).