It was a meeting that was supposed to last three days. Instead, the new Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations between the NFL and NFL Players Association barely lasted a day. According to the league and the NFLPA, it all went great in spite of cancelling the final two days of negotiations.
“Today’s meeting was productive, constructive and beneficial for both sides,” the statement said. “And the meetings between the NFLPA’s Executive Committee and the NFL’s Management Council Executive Committee will continue.”
From @NFLTotalAccess: The NFL and NFLPA will continue to have talks on a new CBA but @TomPelissero and I have spoken to sources who agree it won’t be done by the start of this season. pic.twitter.com/ZaK0yAVmfQ
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) July 17, 2019
Well, of course they will. But why couldn’t they have continued, oh, I don’t know, Thursday and Friday as originally planned?
The point is, this is not good news for the prospects of an easy labor negotiation. It’s even worse news concerning the prospect of a lockout before the 2021 NFL season.
Reportedly, according to NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero, both organizations wanted to “review and regroup”
Let’s take a look at who was at the meeting. You had NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith, the NFL’s Management Council Executive Committee (i.e. a group of NFL owners) and some players representing the NFLPA’s Executive Committee (Richard Sherman, Russel Okung and Adam Vinatieri among others).
So the NFL and NFLPA carve out three days for CBA talks, they abruptly pull the plug on day one, and they issue a joint statement that all is well? https://t.co/6BtStCBuJg pic.twitter.com/UBUeBpva0F
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) July 18, 2019
Sherman being at the negotiation table is probably the worst possible scenario for both the NFL and Smith, the feckless head of the players union. Sherman is too smart to let anything slide by, and he’s made his money. He has no reason not to fight for his fellow players’ best interests.
With the prospects of an 18-game regular season schedule, as well as stadium credits, gross revenue split to free agency (most certainly the franchise tag), Goodell’s punishment power and the league’s antiquated substance abuse policy. Sherman, and maybe I’m not giving the other players at the table enough credit here, won’t drop any of it.
So I’m sure the league wants to “restart” negotiations once the season begins and active players like Sherman can’t be at the table, causing trouble with all their facts, experiences and honest concerns.
