News between the NFL and NFL Players Association is changing by the day. On Wednesday, NFL owners walked away when the players association proposed to take an average of 50% of all league revenue. The second negotiation session scheduled for Thursday has been canceled and no future meetings have been proposed. The deadline for a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is midnight, March 4th.
The owners thought the union’s proposal of a 49-51% take was “total revenue” instead of “all revenue.” Currently, “total revenue” is deemed an estimated $9 billion gross, minus a $1 billion credit to the owners. Owners asked for an additional $1 billion credit, which would make it $2 billion total, before splitting the “total revenue” with players. NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said that the union would have look at the owners’ financial books before allowing the additional $1 billion in credits.
The current CBA has the union’s share estimated at 60% of $8 billion net. With the owners’ current proposal, the union would receive just over 40% of all revenue. Smith said that would be the smallest percentage of a players’ share by any professional sports union.
Players are hoping that the union will take a flat 50% cut of “all revenue,” eliminating the $1 billion of credits and the term “total revenue.” In addition, players would grant more credits to any franchise that reinvests in stadium improvement. The union thinks this that every club’s expense wouldn’t need to be audited with this proposal instead of the current CBA and the intended proposal by owners.
Another issue between the two sides is the rookie wager-scale proposal. The owners are proposing a five-year wager scale for first-rounders, four years for other drafted players, and no individually negotiated contracts. Smith said proposal is more like a veteran scale, not a rookie scale, and there are league-wide base salary escalators.
With that proposal, players can’t renegotiate contracts or agree to extensions until three years after being drafted. Signing bonuses would be fixed and paid over the length of the contract.
The NFL hasn’t had a work stoppage since 1987. Right now with negotiations on hold, it’s looking like a lockout is a good bet. Bodog has 1/3 odds on a lockout occurring and 2/1 odds on a lockout not occurring.