The enormity of the NFL empire is never more obvious than Super Bowl Week. But buried within the star-studded parties and celebratory events hyping Sunday’s big game in Miami, there is a meeting scheduled that could have serious repercussions on the future of the sport, possibly bringing it all to an abrupt halt with a total shutdown of the league.
Player representatives are set to meet with NFL Players Association leaders on Thursday for an update on the union’s efforts to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement with league owners. According to an ESPN report from Dan Graziano, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith says he is planning to tell players that “if they want to dig in their heels on any one issue — including the owners’ push for an expanded, 17-game regular season — they have to be willing to take it all the way.”
That could very well mean an NFL strike before the 2021 season.
“People need to understand that it’s really easy to call for a work stoppage; it’s really hard to win one,” Smith told reporters in Miami. “So that’s why I started notifying players four years ago about saving their checks, making changes to their debt structure, and the reality is that if we want to hold out and get everything we want, that’s probably going to mean a two-year strike.”
While the owners’ desire for a 17-game regular season will be a significant item on the docket in a new CBA, expanded playoffs and a shortened preseason are also up for debate. Further topics to be hashed out likely include changes to the league’s drug and discipline policies, improved benefits for current and retired players, changes to training camp rules, and ultimately, the percentage of revenue players would agree to receive.
Smith will meet this week with player reps from the 30 teams not playing in Super Bowl LIV. The meeting is not expected to feature a vote on any issues, but as Graziano points out, “the union hopes that everyone comes out of it with some idea of where things stand and what kind of action the players want to take going forward.”
Both sides know that “a two-year strike,” as referenced by Smith, would be catastrophic to the league and permanently alienate scores of advertisers, broadcasters, and fans worldwide.
The next key moment for movement will be the NFLPA’s anual meeting, held in Florida in March. Cornerback Byron Jones is the Cowboys’ current representative; offensive lineman Joe Looney is the alternate. Both are free agents this offseason.
The current CBA expires in March 2021; ongoing negotiations would not affect the next NFL season or postseason. But, Graziano says, “there are portions of the new deal that would benefit the players if they were in place in time for the 2020 season.”
There is still plenty of time for the two sides to come to an agreement that benefits everyone, and the pomp and circumstance surrounding Sunday’s Super Bowl- the culmination of the league’s centennial anniversary- should serve as good reminders to both players and owners that the NFL pie is plenty big enough for everyone to get a fair slice.
But it’s Smith’s job to remind players that they also need to be prepared to get up and leave the table- for the first time since 1987- if it comes to that.
“The job of the union is to engage in good-faith negotiations, make sure that our players are informed, but at no time take it for granted that what is really needed is the ability of players to withstand a work stoppage and win it so that they come out of it better than before they went into it,” Smith said. “And if we are prepared to do that, and the players vote to take that action, we’ll be fine. But anything less than being fully prepared is wishful thinking, and perhaps cheap and dangerous talk.”
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