Get ready to strap yourselves in for the rollercoaster ride that is the latest in Collective Bargaining Agreement talks.
Here we go.
Last night, it appeared as if progress was being made:
The NFLPA Board of Player Representatives voted to send the proposed collective bargaining agreement to the membership for a vote. #NFLPA #CBA
— George Atallah (@GeorgeAtallah) February 26, 2020
— NFLPA (@NFLPA) February 26, 2020
The NFLPA board of representatives voted to send the proposed CBA to the full membership, meaning now only a simple majority of the nearly 2,000 players is needed to ratify. The thinking has been that vote is a virtual certainty. On the 1-yard line towards 10 years of labor peace
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) February 26, 2020
… Which was great.
The NFLPA was sending the proposed CBA (which was approved by the owners) to for a full-membership vote and NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport optimistically defined the status as “on the 1-yard line towards 10 years of labor peace.”
Bold words for a tweet sent at 1 a.m. ET.
And, as expected, things seemed to progress as the morning evolved:
If ratified by majority of players, new deal would give them the highest percentage of revenues of any American professional sport, going to 48% and eventually could climb higher than 48.5% depending on media rights. That would mean more than $5 billion in new money to players.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 26, 2020
New CBA that full player membership now will vote on would implement a 17th game no earlier than 2021 and expand the playoffs. It also caps the number of regular season games at 17 for the 10-year deal.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 26, 2020
Owners also agreed to form a joint committee, before expanding the season to 17 games, to review injury data and potentially alter offseason programs according to that committee's recommendations.
— Dan Graziano (@DanGrazianoESPN) February 26, 2020
And then conflicting reports surfaced:
Per source, the NFLPA is seriously split on new CBA. Players got nothing from meeting with NFL. The executive council voted 7-4 against it. The team reps voted 17-14 for it with one abstaining. It was sent to full membership any way. Uncharted waters trying to push deal through
— Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) February 26, 2020
Side note: After talking to my own sources, I'm hearing Exec council did not vote again last night. Their initial recommendation against stands at 6-5. A source had additional uncertainty this am on whether "a vote to the full membership (will happen) in time for new league year"
— ig: josinaanderson (@JosinaAnderson) February 26, 2020
Talking to 1 of the 32 players reps right now who told me they feel like " a lot of stuff is being rushed to get finished. To me I think the whole thing feels rushed , real quick. You know, that's a negotiation strategy on the owners' (part). Apparently it's worked."
— ig: josinaanderson (@JosinaAnderson) February 26, 2020
[Cont.] "….One higher-ranking player rep source told me this morning, in their opinion, "they got the votes through fear-mongering… Sad." https://t.co/gXFqWNXl82
— ig: josinaanderson (@JosinaAnderson) February 26, 2020
OOF. What a ride.
This CBA is feeling rushed, which isn’t an ideal way to go through negotiations. Clarence E. Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram went as far as to tweet the players “got nothing” as far as concessions are concerned from the league’s side of things. Some negotiations! A report like that from Hill vibes with what ESPN’s Josina Anderson has heard regarding the push to get something done for the sake of being able to proclaim 10 years of labor peace moving forward.
While I am not 100 percent sure what to make of the latest CBA chatter, I feel as if the biggest takeaways to this point are (1) the owners want to push things through as quickly as possible in order to best position themselves at a maximum cash grab and (2) a certain segment of players want to get a deal done so they can get a share of the pot, too.
Don’t get me wrong: The idea of 10 years of labor peace is wonderful.
But by adding a 17th game knowing that television rights negotiations are coming up soon, it’s easy to envision the players feeling shorted if they agreed to anything less than a 50 percent split of future revenues. In any case, we will continue to monitor the situation as it unfolds.