The NFL announced Thursday team owners voted to accept terms on principal elements of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement that the league and NFL Players’ Association have been negotiating for more than ten months.
Now, the ball figuratively is in the NFLPA’s possession, as they’ll have to approve the terms for a new agreement.
The league’s statement also gave some insight into when the new CBA would kick in should the players decline their terms before the new league calendar year begins March 18.
“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,” the statement says.
Owners met in New York on Thursday to discuss the terms, per NFL Network’s Michael Silver. According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the players get their turn to go over the owners’ proposal on a conference call Friday. If the 32 player representatives pass the proposed CBA by a two-thirds majority, a player vote is the next step in putting it into place.
A few notable proposed changes include a different playoff format, an expansion of the regular-season to a 17-game schedule, the elimination of one preseason game and an increase in revenue sharing for players.
