This would be sweet music IF it works...
[
bleacherreport.com]
The NFL "genuinely wants" a new collective bargaining agreement in place by Sept. 1, according to Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio.
Florio noted that the NFL hopes to get a deal done prior to the start of the 2019 regular season so negotiations don't interfere with the league's 100th anniversary celebration. Also per Florio, the league "wants to take the promise of long-term labor peace and parlay that into new TV deals."
The NFL Players Association reportedly does not care whether a new CBA is reached within the league's timetable.
The current CBA is set to expire following the 2020 season.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported in May that negotiations between the two sides earlier this year had been "cordial" and "amicable." At that point, it was "possible" for a deal to be reached in 2019, though 2020 was viewed as "more likely."
Rapoport wrote that stadium credits—money owners use on stadiums—and expiring television contracts were among the key issues being discussed.
While negotiations appeared to be in a good place, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith sent an email to every NFL agent in late May saying that the union is "advising players to plan for a work stoppage of at least a year in length" when the current CBA expires, per Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal.
In August 2017, Smith had told The MMQB's Albert Breer that a lockout in 2021 was "almost a virtual certainty."
There was a four-month lockout before an agreement was reached on the current CBA in 2011.
BeachBoy
