Some great news on Thursday just broke concerning the NFL and a future CBA potentially being in place well before the start of the 2020 league year.
On Thursday, NFL owners reportedly approved the terms of a potential new CBA (collective bargaining agreement) between the league and the NFL Players Association, the league said in a statement following the owners’ meeting in New York on Thursday.
The statement read, “Following more than ten months of intensive and thorough negotiations, the NFL Players and clubs have jointly developed a comprehensive set of new and revised terms that will transform the future of the game, provide for players — past, present, and future — both on and off the field, and ensure that the NFL’s second century is even better and more exciting for the fans.
“The membership voted today to accept the negotiated terms on the principal elements of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The Players Association would also need to vote to approve the same terms for there to be a new agreement.
“Since the clubs and players need to have a system in place and know the rules that they will operate under by next week, the membership also approved moving forward under the final year of the 2011 CBA if the players decide not to approve the negotiated terms. Out of respect for the process and our partners at the NFLPA, we will have no further comment at this time.”
The players and their representatives will consider the owner-approved CBA proposal in a conference call on Friday, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported. Additionally, it’s being reported that the NFL owners were not unanimous in the approval of the proposed CBA. In short, not every owner voted in favor for it.
This is obviously great news and now it appears as though it’s up to the players if a new CBA will be agreed to well prior to the start of the 2020 NFL league year a little less than a month from now.
Owners also reportedly voted on Thursday to move forward under the terms of the current CBA if players don’t vote to approve the latest offering. League’s official statement says clubs and players need to “know the rules they will operate under by next week.”
The annual NFL scouting combine will get underway next week in Indianapolis, IN so we could potentiality have a new CBA in place by this same time next week. A new CBA agreement figures to be very beneficial for the Pittsburgh Steelers in regard to their 2020 salary cap situation and primarily because the 30 percent rule would likely no longer be in play. That 30 percent rule that’s in effect right now severely limits the amount of salary cap space the Steelers can free up this offseason via typical contract restructures and extensions.
