The NFL Players Association will huddle up in Los Angeles on Thursday to discuss the owners’ latest proposal, as Dan Graziano of ESPN.com writes. The players are not expected to vote on the proposal, however, as many in the union are still against the idea of a 17-game season.
The owners are looking for an answer by the start of the new league year, on March 18th. If there’s no deal by that date, Graziano hears that talks are “likely to be tabled indefinitely.” That may, or may not, be a real deadline. In reality, neither side wants to chance the possibility of a labor stoppage when the current collective bargaining agreement lapses.
When the CBA does finally come to a vote, it will begin with the union’s 32 player representatives. With two-thirds approval, it would move to a union-wide vote among all players. After that, if 50% of players and two-thirds of owners say yes, it’s a done deal.
The owners’ latest pitch would establish a new ten-year CBA and increase the players’ cut of revenue from 47% to 48.5%. If an extra regular season game is tacked on starting in 2021, that percentage would increase for players. In the owners’ proposed CBA, they’d have the option to expand the season anywhere between 2021 and 2023.
Many players – including vocal figures like offensive tackle Russell Okung – have been against the addition of another game for safety reasons. At one point, the proposed 17-game season was set to include an extra bye week for recovery – at last check, the owners were looking to have just one bye week per year while dropping one of the league’s four preseason games. Meanwhile, the postseason would expand from 12 teams to 14.
The owners’ proposed CBA would have upsides for players, however – one source tells ESPN that the uptick in revenue could result in an additional $5 billion paid to players over the course of ten years. It also includes relaxed rules regarding marijuana, higher minimum spending floors for clubs, and other perks that the union has been seeking.
Safety reasons? One more game will make the profession unsafe? If that’s the case, let the players quit playing football and get a nice safe job bagging burgers at McDonald’s
$5B over 10 years = $500MM/yr
$500MM/yr for 53 players x 32 teams = ~$295K/player/yr.
That’s obviously an average which goes down if more players are sharing, some practice squad guys may see nothing, some superstars may see $1MM.
Preseason is garbage get rid of it establish a developmental league, go play 17 games and but play only 15 or 16 shuttle guys back n forth from developmental
Month of September is now garbage due to the way preseason and camp are handled.