CBA updates: It’s back on the players to pass the latest proposal

The latest CBA proposal passed yet another hurdle and is once again in the hands of the NFLPA. The executive committee, which includes Richard Sherman—who told NFL’s Jim Trotter he would not be running for NFLPA president—was on hand Tuesday with the NFL owners at the combine to discuss the latest proposal.

Oddly enough, Adam Schefter has turned into a corporate shill when discussing these proposals. Schefter said, if ratified by the majority of players, a new deal would give them the highest percentage of revenues of any American professional sport, going to 48% and eventually could climb higher than 48.5% depending on media rights. That would mean more than $5 billion in new money to players. That would be great info if it were true. From what I could find, the NBA is somewhere between 49-51%, while the NHL has a 50/50 split. Why even say that? Unless Schefty isn’t counting those leagues because there are Canadian teams, which is still a bit weird.

Anyway, according to Tom Pelissero, the vote to pass along the new CBA was 17-14, with one vote abstained. The owners agreed to remove $250k cap on the 17th game check for existing contracts but rejected the proposal to shorten the offseason. There hasn’t been a set a date for the final vote. That is to be determined. The vote to ratify would take place electronically. For the final vote, all that’s needed to pass is a majority vote. Pelissero said that’s been the expectation once this proposal passed the board.

There will be 2,000 players voting, so that’s another reason for the electronic vote. That way, things can move along quickly. Pelissero called it being on the 1-yard line towards ten years of labor peace. I’d imagine it won’t be that easy or simple. The owners being so pushy about getting this deal done should be a concern. Joe Fann said the NFLPA couldn’t find an insurance company willing to write the policy to give lifetime healthcare for the NFL players. They couldn’t even get it to the negotiating table. That’s rough. The game cap check was a joke, to begin with. Russell Wilson would have lost $2.25 million for adding an extra game, for reference. I think that gives you an idea of who the owners are thinking about in this proposal.