© Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
The NFL owners want to make some changes to the football season. They are proposing these changes a couple years out from a potential nightmare standoff between the owners and the NFL Players’ Association when the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement expires at the conclusion of the 2020-21 season. The current agreement came after a 132-day lockout in 2011.
The 49ers’ Richard Sherman has said players need to be willing to strike assertively, and the NFLPA’s Executive Director DeMaurice Smith sent a memo to players’ agents warning them to plan for loss of wages in the 2020-21 season, and potentially lose the season entirely. Some of the core issues likely to be discussed are guaranteed contracts and the safety of players.
According to Andrew Beaton of the Wall Street Journal, the NFL owners proposed lengthening the NFL season from 16 games to 18 games, and capping the number of games players will be allowed to play each season at 16. They sent this proposal to the NFLPA and as of yet, there’s no clear indication as to what point of this change would be and where the NFLPA stands on it.
One idea pitched by NFL owners during labor talks: an 18-game regular season in which players would only be allowed to play in 16 of those games. https://t.co/1qsZZMzT72
— WSJ Sports (@WSJSports) July 11, 2019
