NFL owners could reportedly push for 18-game season during labor talks

[nighttrain]

Depends on whether the Union is more interested in catering to those lopsided QB salaries or if they value a 'team' game. The union should be about the best welfare of all its members, not just the select or elite few. jmo

totally agree and logic says union members should be voting for the majority, not the qb's
train

 

[LARams_1963]

Extending the season and adding a second bye week would call for a 20 week season. That means either some warmer weather or colder weather games.

 

[coconut]

1) 16 game season schedule with 2 Bye weeks

2) Expand teams to 55 regular roster players with everyone eligible to play

3) Expand Practice Squads to 15 players

4) First year minimum wage for the 55 roster players jumps to $1mil per season, with a yearly inflation clause.

5) Highest paid player cannot exceed the lowest by more than 20 times season salary

6) 4 year max length for rookie contracts with the 4'th year now becoming the 'option' year

7) Increase league funding for health benefits following player retirement

8) Kroenke pays for Free Beer for life for every ROD member

Owner in my mind only.
1. No. Owners want more gate and TV revenue.
2. Owners might go for it.
3. Owners might go for it.
4. No. More cost to the owners.
5. Interesting idea, cheap owners might go for it.
6. No. Owners want the fresh legs at a discount.
7. Owners might go for it given the potential for lawsuits.
8. Owners will go for it if extended to all NFL fans.

 

[Riverumbbq]

Owner in my mind only.
1. No. Owners want more gate and TV revenue.
2. Owners might go for it.
3. Owners might go for it.
4. No. More cost to the owners.
5. Interesting idea, cheap owners might go for it.
6. No. Owners want the fresh legs at a discount.
7. Owners might go for it given the potential for lawsuits.
8. Owners will go for it if extended to all NFL fans.

1) NFL will have an 18 game season, meaning one more games worth of TV revenue which is spread among all the owners.
4) Wrong, the Salary Cap is still in place
5) Wrong again, see #4
6) Union likely to demand it, and it will be called the Donald clause for closing the gap on exceptional players who are not being paid accordingly

 

[coconut]

1) NFL will have an 18 game season, meaning one more games worth of TV revenue which is spread among all the owners.
4) Wrong, the Salary Cap is still in place
5) Wrong again, see #4
6) Union likely to demand it, and it will be called the Donald clause for closing the gap on exceptional players who are not being paid accordingly

4. Cap will be raised if union gets the $1 million minimum.
5. Unworkable for teams that want to pay the price for exceptional talent.

 

[Riverumbbq]

4. Cap will be raised if union gets the $1 million minimum.
5. Unworkable for teams that want to pay the price for exceptional talent.

4) CAP gets raised every year based on NFL earnings, paying the minimum wage guys will have zero effect on the owners, but ensures a better spread amongst the players.

5) ?

 

[OldSchool]

i do like the max on highest paid player, but any chance it would happen?
train

Never going to happen.

 

[coconut]

4) CAP gets raised every year based on NFL earnings, paying the minimum wage guys will have zero effect on the owners, but ensures a better spread amongst the players.

5) ?

5. The effect of no more than 20X the lowest paid player is a an increase of the minimum wage for a team that pays a player more than $20 million per year. If a team pays a player $25 million then the minimum wage on that team will increase 25% to $1,250,000. At $30 million it is a 50% increase to $1,500,000. How many owners do you think would go for that?

 

[Riverumbbq]

5. The effect of no more than 20X the lowest paid player is a an increase of the minimum wage for a team that pays a player more than $20 million per year. If a team pays a player $25 million then the minimum wage on that team will increase 25% to $1,250,000. At $30 million it is a 50% increase to $1,500,000. How many owners do you think would go for that?

Again, ... the owners wouldn't care as they operate within a salary cap. The cost is no more or no less for the owners who already pay all salaries within the boundaries of the CAP.
Lets say the rule ends up being 25 times minimum wage for some player, that means the lowest paid player is receiving $1mil per year and the most you could offer the highest is $25mil per year. As an example, a 6 year contract can't exceed $150.mil, but guaranteed money could be whatever is negotiated, along with roster bonuses.
For another example, when minimum wage players receive a veterans minimum boost the following year, the minimum wage of $1mil. would not change unless there was an included cost of living clause for the newer players entering the league. Say the new NFLPA contract included a minimum wage allowing for a 5% C.O.L.A. increase, the next class of minimum wage workers would receive $1,050,000., and new contracts for the highest paid could jump to a max of $26,250,000. per year. jmo.

 

[Mojo Ram]

Absolutely NO to an expanded playoff season and more eligible teams

 

[Zodi]

I want a 20 game regular season. Start it in August. Make steroids and marijuana not only legal, but mandatory. Each team has four bye weeks and 100 player rosters. Increase the cap limit to whatever Stan Kroenke's net worth is.

 

[CGI_Ram]

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...t-will-happen-the-hail-mary-mystery-and-more/

NFL insider notes: Why neither an 18-game season nor a lockout will happen

Despite what you may have heard this week, the NFL and NFLPA continue to make strides towards a new collective bargaining agreement well before the current one expires, continue to share positive vibes and a meaningful dialogue and seem more aligned than anytime in recent memory in terms of a shared vision to establish long-term labor peace prior to the start of the 2020 season.

This was the case when I first reported on the strong early progress on informal talks and mutual good feelings about the start of formal negotiations way back at the combine. And it remains very much the case now, according to well-placed sources with both labor and management. In fact, things have gone eerily swimmingly thus far, as numerous other media outlets have picked up with their reporting since my initial account.

Which makes the events of this week, frankly, totally predictable. Word trickling out from the NFL side about possibly still clinging to the idea of pursuing an 18-game season (newsflash: it won't happen) and the NFLPA notifying all agents to urge clients to save and prepare for a lockout of at least one year (newsflash: that ain't happening either) are exactly what I would expect at this point in the process, and, in context, make perfect sense.

The reality here is both entities have large constituencies to serve, and there are hawks and doves within the ranks of both. It's become increasingly clear, through the tenor and tone of reporting on these talks, that there is unprecedented goodwill and movement between the sides under their current regimes (Roger Goodell and DeMaurice Smith) and that progress is being made. But managing expectations and giving some red meat to the hardliners is always a part of the making of this sausage, and it strikes as less than coincidental that both sides leaked some this week.

More talks are ahead in the coming months and no one wants to give off the air they are rolling over too much.

So for those in the union ranks who believe the sky is always falling and dread is on the horizon, why not send out a doom-and-gloom letter just to make sure everyone knows how real the fight is and how stuck in the NFLPA is and to put everyone on notice a bit of what dastardly deeds these owners may be capable of (even though it's been a generation since there was a labor stoppage of any consequence in this sport). After so much rhetoric about lockouts and potential ugliness over the past 12 months or so out of some in the NFLPA camp, it makes no sense to abandon it completely, even as that outcome seems increasingly remote.

There is always a group of owners out there that wants to go for the throat at all costs and force things down the players' throats. And few issues have drawn a more visceral response from all sides than the 18-game season concept. So, even with things trending in an overly positive direction, it makes just as much sense for the NFL to throw that out there as well, to put the union on notice a bit and let some firebrand owners believe they will push that issue to the limit. It can't be all holding hands and smiling faces; this is a multi-billion dollar labor negotiation after all.

But I have yet to speak to anyone on either side who envisioned either of these scenarios actually playing out. As stated in this space before, there is simply too much money at stake out there in the next TV rights and streaming rights and legalized sports-betting revenue. Both sides see how exponentially the pot can grow. There is a pot of gold on the other side of this negotiating rainbow, and too much common sense and fiscal sense to blow it.

"Everyone involved in this process feels really good about the negotiations," said one source with knowledge of the situation. "That's been a constant."

So I continue to bet on a new deal being completed in 2020 – well before the 2021 expiration – and the outward signals of extreme propaganda belie what has really been going on behind closed doors. The NFL will capitulate on marijuana policy and commissioner's powers when it's all said and done, an extra playoff game will be added to each conference, franchise tags are here to stay, guaranteed contracts won't be coming, roster sizes will expand and the business of NFL football will remain robust well beyond the next election and into the next decade.

 

[nighttrain]

great article
train

 

[bubbaramfan]

Neither side has used "common sense" in the last couple of CBA negotiations. Wishful thinking they will use it in the next one.

 

[Mackeyser]

And would add revenue by making the regular season 18 weeks along - so more TV money, but better for the player's health. Sounds good to me.

Actually, it would take the regular season from 17 weeks long to 20 weeks long (18 games and two byes).

Then the playoffs would also add a week taking the football season from 21 weeks to 25 weeks not including the preseason.

If they included a significant roster bump and a cap on individual salaries (the ONLY way to ensure money flows down) or found a way to cap QB salary hits against the cap and put a luxury tax on amounts over a set limit, then the players might consider it (including dropping the testing for THC)

All that said, I have so little faith in either the owners or the NFLPA to bargain in good faith that I’m just expecting a full season lockout and then some replacements and after that, I dunno if I’ll give a damn what happens.

Just gonna be in the moment and celebrate what we have now and let tomorrow take care of itself.

 

[Akrasian]

Actually, it would take the regular season from 17 weeks long to 20 weeks long (18 games and two byes).

No, I was addressing Riverumbbq's suggestion of a 16 game schedule with 2 instead of 1 bye weeks - to give one extra week of tv revenue and a bit of extra rest for players.

 

[oldnotdead]

I think the only way the players would agree to play 18 games would be if the NFL made big changes such as:
1. Get rid of Monday & Thursday games to give all players a full week to recover.
2. Expand the roster by eliminating the Practice Squad and increasing the active roster to 58.
3. The entire active roster (58) is available (suited up) on game day.
4. Profit sharing.
But in reality #1 would end all talk of season extension.

I can see expanding the playoffs by and extra week by adding 2 wildcard teams per conference. Then giving all division winners a first round bye. But that would give the 1&2 seeds a 2 week bye which really wouldn't be fair giving them 2 weeks to get healthy. It would also make it exceptionally difficult for a wildcard team to get to the SuperBowl having to play an extra game and the entire playoffs with no break.

If the NFL was really honestly interested in player's health they would eliminate Thursday night games completely. Or scheduling only teams coming off their bye week to play on Thursday.

Bottom line is nothing is going to happen

 

[Mackeyser]

I think the only way the players would agree to play 18 games would be if the NFL made big changes such as:
1. Get rid of Monday & Thursday games to give all players a full week to recover.
2. Expand the roster by eliminating the Practice Squad and increasing the active roster to 58.
3. The entire active roster (58) is available (suited up) on game day.
4. Profit sharing.
But in reality #1 would end all talk of season extension.

I can see expanding the playoffs by and extra week by adding 2 wildcard teams per conference. Then giving all division winners a first round bye. But that would give the 1&2 seeds a 2 week bye which really wouldn't be fair giving them 2 weeks to get healthy. It would also make it exceptionally difficult for a wildcard team to get to the SuperBowl having to play an extra game and the entire playoffs with no break.

If the NFL was really honestly interested in player's health they would eliminate Thursday night games completely. Or scheduling only teams coming off their bye week to play on Thursday.

Bottom line is nothing is going to happen

I think your last suggestion should already be done. Only teams coming off bye weeks can play on Thursday nights.

That’s so common sense which is probably why it hasn’t been done.

 

[Merlin]

In a few short weeks the NFL is going to have a problem on their hands when most of the league joins the Rams in sitting starters for preseason. I think this is the reason we are hearing the 18 game rumblings, since by making 2 of the preseason games count the league can ensure the quality of the product a bit to compensate for the expected trend.

 

[Riverumbbq]

In a few short weeks the NFL is going to have a problem on their hands when most of the league joins the Rams in sitting starters for preseason. I think this is the reason we are hearing the 18 game rumblings, since by making 2 of the preseason games count the league can ensure the quality of the product a bit to compensate for the expected trend.

Rather than increasing the regular season to 18 games, why not cut the pre-season down to 2 or 3 games ?
We know that the coaches like at least one game for the starters to tune-up, usually the week 3 game of pre-season, allowing a week of rest or to heal, but a few games for all the new players to present themselves and compete for those many back-up & special teams roles also seems imperative. jmo.