The proposed CBA would add one playoff team per conference and expand the regular season to 17 gamesGETTY IMAGES
There is "mounting optimism" that a new NFL CBA could be completed sometime in the next week, and it is "expected to change the NFL's playoff structure as it is currently constituted for next season," according to sources cited by Adam Schefter of ESPN.com. Sources said that under the current CBA proposal, the playoff field "would be expanded to seven teams from each conference, while the regular season would be increased to 17 games per team and the preseason shortened to three games per team." Sources added that only one team from each conference "would receive a first-round bye." The changes to the NFL's playoff format "would take effect" for the '20 season, "assuming the new CBA is ratified beforehand." Meanwhile, the proposed 17-game regular season "would not take effect" until '21 at the earliest. As part of the deal now on the table, players "would go from a 47% revenue share under the current deal to 48% share at 16 games, and then to a 48.5% share if they go to 17 games," shifting $5B of revenue to the players' side (ESPN.com, 2/19). ESPN.com's Dan Graziano reported one of the concessions players have been "seeking since CBA talks began last year is an increase in the minimum salary, which applies to a significant chunk of the league's population." Sources said that under this proposal, NFL minimum salaries "would rise by roughly 25%." Sources also said that the players who are opposed to a 17-game season have "pushed back and asked" the NFLPA to "demand further concessions from owners" (ESPN.com, 2/19).
TV TIME: In N.Y., Ken Belson reports though the current 10-year labor agreement does not end until March '21, the owners are "pushing for a new agreement before the current league calendar year ends on March 18." Implementing a deal in the middle of a league year is "difficult because newly negotiated terms like minimum salaries would have to be prorated." Owners also "want to secure a labor deal as soon as possible so the league can begin negotiations with television networks" (N.Y. TIMES, 2/20). In N.Y., Paul Schwartz writes going from 38% of teams making the playoffs to 44% "waters down the regular season some, but just watch what happens during negotiations for the next television contract." There will be "nothing watered-down about the money the broadcast rights command" (N.Y. POST, 2/20). YAHOO SPORTS' Dan Wetzel wrote in an "era of fractured television ratings for just about everything other than live sports, it stands to reason that the most reliable audience-driver would look to max out on its advantage." The NFL is "one resilient product." That is why it is "likely to weather whatever watering down comes with expansion" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 2/19).
PLAN OF ACTION: All 32 league owners are expected to meet at 2:00pm ET today at the Conrad Hotel in Manhattan to discuss the deal currently on the table, while the NFLPA will conduct a conference call with its player reps tomorrow. If the sides remain far apart after these two meetings, time will become an issue. Both sides have said that there is urgency to finish talks before the NFLPA holds leadership elections and the new league year starts next month. One union official said that in order to finalize a contract by then, terms would have to be agreed to by the end of the Combine, which starts Sunday (Ben Fischer, THE DAILY).
PLAYOFF PUSH: NBCSN's Chris Simms said, "To give only one team the first-round bye is going to make the regular season -- which is already very important and intense compared to other sports -- that much more important." Simms: "I don't think you're flooding it." PFT's Mike Florio said the proposed expansion of the postseason is going to be "worth even more money than going from four games to six games" in the Wild Card Round. Florio: "Even though a lot of these stadiums are sold-out in advance, you want people to show up in late December ... (because) if their team is still alive, they're more likely to show up and spend too much money on beer and merchandise and food and everything else" ("PFT," NBCSN, 2/20).
