Negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement resumed a few weeks ago, and the NFL is believed to have upped its offer in a key area. The league offered the players an increased revenue split, according to Josina Anderson of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
The latest NFL proposal includes a figure closer to 48% revenue share for the players’ side, according to Anderson. Players are currently guaranteed at least 47% of league revenue. The owners would collect 51.5%, with Anderson adding 1.5% would go to stadium credits. The revenue split has been a central component of these CBA discussions; the sides were far apart on this deal point during their July talks. The players are pursuing a 50-50 split.
The current CBA has between 47-48.5% going to the players. From 2012-14, the labor force took back 47-48% of the pie, with the higher-end figure increasing to 48.5% from 2015-20. It’s unclear if Anderson’s report indicates the players’ revenue floor will move toward roughly 48%, though that would be the logical progression. The players received a 51% revenue split in the previous CBA, but the cap has ballooned by greater percentages during the life of the current 10-year agreement and is expected to approach or surpass $200MM in 2020.
The league has injected the prospect of a 17-game season into the negotiations and was reportedly ready to bend on key issues like marijuana and the personal conduct policy to entice the players on this front. A revenue-split concession may be another sign the owners are serious about increasing the schedule by a game.
Additionally, the status of NFLPA president Eric Winston may be a key point in these winter talks. The NFLPA will vote to either re-elect Winston or name a new chief at end of the league year in March, and Anderson tweets the NFL’s familiarity with the current leader may explain the increased activity toward getting a deal done before March rather than potentially starting over in talks with a new chief. Winston has served as NFLPA president since 2014.
The owners are going to have to make concessions on the weed and personal conduct stuff eventually anyway so the NFLPA should not bite on that. The union should only accept a 17th game schedule if management agrees to scrap Thursday games and those pointless trips to London.
Those pointless trips to London are very lucrative. There’s a reason they’ve been going on almost a decade and expanding the amount of games for the past few years.
The league won’t contract TNF or London & the players know that.
The player’s problem is they are a union in name only. Most don’t know what the issues are and are too lazy to find out. This is why the owners always come out ahead when the negotiating ends.