In 2011, the NFL had locked out its players for over four months. Fear had taken over the league that the 2011 NFL season would not be played. Nevertheless, the players and owners were able to come to a deal and the season went off like usual. The deal, expected to last 10 years, is coming to a close and new players have new aspirations to what the new CBA should look like.
As the combine is set to begin this weekend and the franchise/transition tags coming to a start, the CBA is halfway there to being signed. The owners have signed their approval on the new deal. As reported above, the Board of Representatives for the NFLPA has decided to move forward with the proposal by a majority vote (17-14). So what does this mean? Will there be another lockout? And why should you, the average fan, care about what a bunch of millionaires fight over? All of that is below.
The Proposal
When looking at the CBA proposal, you first have to understand what exactly a collective bargaining agreement is. To start, both the NFLPA and the NFL Owners have to agree on financial and structural terms on how teams deal with the players on their own teams. The key points to this year’s proposal have been laid out by several reporters.
There’s a lot to gloss over. Yet the basic principles to the new CBA are simple:
- Increase in Revenue sharing to the players moves to 48.5%
- 17 Game season proposal
- Adding a 7th seed to both AFC and NFC playoffs
- Shorter practices
- New drug policy that no longer sees marijuana as an illegal substance
- New policy on suspensions and appeals (Roger Goodell is no longer judge-jury-executioner)
Continued on the page below.
AP Photo/Michael Perez
