The NFLPA is proposing a plan that would “pay out base salaries in 26 installments year-round, rather than 17 game checks during the regular season,” according to Tom Pelissero of USA TODAY. Sources said that the plan would “need approval by a majority” of the 32 team union reps and would "have to be negotiated with the NFL.” Proponents of the plan say that it “would help players to better budget their finances and avoid high-interest bridge loans in the offseason.” But Pelissero notes the plan “has been met with some resistance from players who argue it punishes those who already know how to manage their money and want to invest it.” Any deal “would likely include an opt-out for veteran players, perhaps after three credited seasons or upon termination of their contracts.” A permanent three-year deferral of performance-based pay also “has been part of the union's presentations to players this spring.” A measure that would have “stopped the union's efforts to negotiate it with the league failed at the NFLPA meetings in March” (USA TODAY, 6/4).
