The NFL and NFLPA "finally came to an agreement on terms in the wee hours of Monday morning," according to sources cited by Jay Glazer of FOXSPORTS.com. NFLPA player reps and other players "still must vote to approve it, but at this point it appears a formality." Sources said that under the new agreement, "team facilities will open as early as Tuesday and training camps will begin Wednesday for 10 teams, Thursday for 10 teams, Friday for another 10 and Sunday for the remaining two, only 15 days before the first preseason game." Players will "begin arriving at team facilities Tuesday to vote to recertify the NFLPA as a union" (FOXSPORTS.com, 7/25). In DC, Mark Maske reports as NFL players and teams "made preparations to return to work, representatives of the league and players worked Sunday to try to have an official, written version of their 10-year collective bargaining agreement ready for player leaders to review" today. NFLPA Exec Committee members are scheduled to meet today in DC, and are "likely to recommend approval of the labor agreement to the entire group of players." Agents this weekend were telling players to "be ready to report to teams’ facilities at midweek for voluntary workouts and to prepare to report to training camps late in the week" (WASHINGTON POST, 7/25). An NFLPA source said that the Exec Committee is "expected to meet today and recommend approval of the 10-year collective bargaining agreement, which would be the longest in league history, as well as the global settlement of legal cases" (USA TODAY, 7/25). NFL Network's Albert Breer reports there "will be no opt-out in the 10-year deal, after much haggling over it" (TWITTER.com, 7/25).
LET'S MAKE A DEAL: In N.Y., Judy Battista notes opening team facilities midweek would allow players to "fill out paper union cards to re-form the union." Counting those "could take several days, but once there are enough to assure re-forming the union -- half of the 1,900 players, plus one -- the full union membership could vote to ratify the agreement" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/25). Re-creation of the union will involve meetings with players at team training camps around the country and collecting signatures to support a new union, sources said. After players re-form as a union, they will begin collective bargaining on health and safety issues immediately (Liz Mullen, SportsBusiness Journal). SI.com's Peter King reports the NFLPA's 32 player reps scheduled an 11:00am ET call for this morning to approve a new 10-year CBA, and the NFLPA was "hoping for a unanimous vote" (SI.com, 7/25).
DIGGING INTO THE PLAYBOOK: In Milwaukee, Tom Silverstein reported under the new CBA, owners "won't take $1 billion off the top" of designated revenue. Instead, revenues "will be split into three categories: national media, national ventures and local revenue." The players "will receive 55% of the national media revenues, 45% of national ventures and 40% of local revenues." In total, the players' take "cannot exceed 48.5% of all revenues or drop below 47%." Packers President & CEO Mark Murphy said, "As we're looking at it, it's going to be all revenue. One of the things that really helped us reach a compromise with the players was looking at revenue as three different buckets and treating the three different streams of revenue differently in terms of the percentage that went to the players" (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 7/23). In K.C., Kent Babb reported the owners' proposed agreement "includes an upgraded pension and benefit plan for retired players, adding between $900 million and $1 billion in benefits over the next decade and an additional $620 million for players who retired before 1993, the year free agency was introduced in the NFL and salaries began to dramatically increase." Still, former NFLer Conrad Dobler said that the $620M, "split over 10 years, divided among the 10,000 players who retired before 1993, and rationed into monthly checks, is actually a pension increase of only about $516 per month per retiree." Dobler: "It looks very, very good to the public. When you put the hard figures in place, that shortchanges the retired players again" (K.C. STAR, 7/24).
ALL-OUT BLITZ: In L.A., Sam Farmer notes with the start of training camps "probably days away, and every team angling for the ultimate prize, a major player reshuffling is in the works." Two years worth of "unrestricted free agents are expected to hit the open market this week, and clubs are bracing for an unprecedented flurry of signings." There are "more than 400 unrestricted free agents this year, roughly double a typical year, because in last year's uncapped season the requirement for free agency was increased from four seasons of service to six." There also are "likely to be some high-profile trades" (L.A. TIMES, 7/25). In N.Y., Samuel & Vacchiano report while "most people in the business have been updated on the progress of talks, NFL GMs and personnel people didn't get a detailed briefing of the new CBA rules and salary cap specifics until they attended a league-run seminar on Friday in Atlanta." Once the lockout is lifted, a "lot of people will be learning the new wrinkles -- and potential loopholes -- as they go along" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 7/25). Browns President Mike Holmgren said, "Decisions have to be made by both the players and clubs quicker. And in some ways, it will probably be better" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 7/25). Texans OT and player rep Eric Winston said, "We’re going to look back on it as one of the most exciting times in NFL history. Think about what it’s going to be like when free agency begins. You’ll see coaches conducting practice while new players are being signed" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 7/24). Agent Harold Lewis: "It's going to be quick and it's going to be furious. When that bell rings and I can sign them, say, on Wednesday, then on Wednesday they have to be done. If not, their price is going to go down. It's not going to go up" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 7/24). Agent Brian Murphy: "Normally, we make a proposal and we hear back from teams in three or four days. This time, I expect it will be more like three or four hours" (PROVIDENCE JOURNAL, 7/24).
READY TO GET GOING: The NFLPA has set 2:00pm ET conference call with agents today to review the content of the new CBA, said agents who received an e-mail about the call in the last hour. Agents are champing at the bit to start negotiating deals with NFL clubs, but as of early this morning they were not able to talk to clubs or given official instructions of how player signings could occur, according to multiple prominent agents. There have been reports that clubs could start signing players as soon as today and one agent said he heard that such transactions could begin as soon as the NFLPA Exec Committee votes to approve the deal. Another agent said he heard clubs could start signing players at noon. A third agent said in a text that the plan “is changing every five minutes,” but that it was highly unlikely that it would start today. NFL Senior VP/Communications Greg Aiello did not immediately reply to an e-mail regarding the timeline. Clubs and agents will have to negotiate deals for more players under new rules in a shorter timeframe than ever before. The original plan for agents and GM was to have three days to study the rules before signing players, but multiple sources said that plan was scotched when the NFL and NFLPA failed to reach an agreement last Thursday, as was originally anticipated. Clubs and agents will try to sign players to fill rosters before they have to cancel the first preseason games. Several agents said that they had been in communication with clubs as far back as two weeks ago, despite rules prohibiting it. One agent said early last week a club was calling to get lists of players he represented, and others said they were calling club officials to say “be ready to go” when they were allowed to talk about deals. But agents said that communication had halted in the last four days. “It stopped cold,” said one agent (Mullen).
