The proposed deal is a bet that fans—and the league’s media partners—are interested in even more of Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and NFL action.
Photo: kirby lee/ReutersThe National Football League’s owners shuttled into a downtown Manhattan hotel on Thursday and approved a new collective bargaining agreement with players that would secure labor peace for America’s richest sport for the next decade and could pave the way for a lucrative off-season of new media rights deals.
The deal, which still must be approved by the NFL Players Association, is potentially worth tens of billions of dollars. More than anything, it cashes in on a simple premise. The NFL is already the country’s most popular sport. And it thinks that fans want more football.
The proposed deal gives the league the option to add a 17th regular season game as soon as 2021, people familiar with the matter said. It would also lead to the expansion of the postseason, with seven teams instead of six making the playoffs. The new format would add two more valuable playoff games.
It’s no certainty the collective bargaining agreement will be ratified by NFL players. Union leaders are scheduled to talk on Friday, and it’s expected to be a close call if they will approve the proposal, one person familiar with the matter said. Although the owners approved the deal, it wasn’t unanimous among ownership, another person said. Some prominent players have loudly opposed adding an extra game, citing health concerns.
The proposed deal is a bet that fans—and the league’s media partners, who shell out gobs of money to air television’s most-watched product—are interested in even more of Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and NFL action.
The prospect of these additional games is the most lucrative new part of this deal because of the additional revenue they could raise. It has also been the most contentious.
For years, the NFL and football at all levels have been threatened by health and safety concerns. In 2017, the NFL agreed to a settlement worth as much as $1 billion with former players to compensate them for head injuries and related neurocognitive impairments. While the NFL has taken measures to improve the game’s safety, some players have pointed out that the league is also asking the players to play a dangerous game even more.
“That’s the point that’s really concerning for us as a union,” 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman said ahead of the Super Bowl. “They think players have a price tag on their health.” Sherman added that players are now “more aware of player safety and longevity and just life after football.”
But for the same reason playing more games is a lucrative prospect for ownership, it is for the players, too. The players and the NFL share the league’s revenue. And in bargaining, the players were able to parlay ownership’s desire for another game into a larger portion of the revenue split. As part of the new deal, the players’ share of the revenue will rise from roughly 47% to at least 48%, people familiar with the deal said.
If and when the league exercises its right to add the 17th game, the players’ revenue wouldn’t just rise from the additional game—their share of all revenue would rise as well. Also, as part of the deal, the preseason will be reduced while players’ will receive additional gains such as improved benefits and further restrictions on training. The number of padded practices with full contact, for example, would be reduced.
Earlier, the discussions had even included the possibility of an 18th game, the people familiar with the negotiations said. That included one idea that would have involved an 18-game season with players only allowed to play in 17 of them. This deal, however, does not give the league the option for an 18-game season, one of the people said.
If the deal is ratified by the players, it could set up a summer of deals for the NFL, which raked in approximately $16 billion in revenue last year. The promise of labor peace could pave the way for the league to strike new media pacts while offering more games to their potential bidders. Although most of the league’s current deals aren’t up until 2021 and 2022, executives are eager to renegotiate this off-season because of concerns ratings could sag this upcoming season going up against the drama of the presidential election and that a weakened economy could diminish the league’s leverage, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The current collective bargaining agreement between the league and its players doesn’t expire until after the 2020 season. But the eagerness to renegotiate the media deals has driven a desire among both sides to agree to a new deal imminently because the promise of labor peace, both sides feel, is integral to maximizing those media deals.
While the owners approved the proposal and, the league said in a statement, that they also “approved moving forward under the final year of the 2011 CBA if the players decide not to approve the negotiated terms” if the players don’t agree by next week.
If the players don’t agree within the next few days, one person familiar with the deal said, that would significantly the possibility of the possibility of the one thing the NFL dreads most: a lockout.
Write to Andrew Beaton at andrew.beaton@wsj.com
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