Collective Bargaining Agreement

Earlier this offseason, commissioner Roger Goodell made clear his vision for a revamped NFL calendar including 18 regular season games and the Super Bowl landing on Presidents’ Day weekend. With players understanding the support in place amongst most owners, talks between the league and union have begun.

NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell said in a Monday press availability that discussions have taken place on an informal level regarding the expansion of the regular season schedule. That update comes as little surprise, given the expectation amongst players that negotiations could begin relatively soon. The current CBA runs through 2030, but amendments (including potential expansion of the season) could be worked out well before that point.

“We have talked at a very, very, very high level superficially, with a recognition… about, ‘Yeah, this is something that we should be talking about. And we should really kick the tires and understand what else goes into that decision-making process,’” Howell said (via Mark Maske of the Washington Post). “Where does the 18th game come from?

“I think the foregone conclusion is well, you just grab it, like, in what would otherwise be [preseason games] in August. You play it forward. But these are details that really need to be fleshed out. But, again, there are other economic, health and safety matters that also need to be clear to our members before there’s ever an agreement about an 18th game.”

Howell recently spoke about the issues which the NFLPA would attempt to land concessions on in exchange for expanding the season from 17 games to 18. Matters such as bye weeks, playing surfaces, travel (particularly with respect to international games) and overall compensation will be talking points once formal negotiations take place. Howell added upcoming meetings with players will provide further opportunity to discuss the core issues which will need to be addressed for an 18-game slate to be agreed to.

A number of owners have voiced support for such a move, including Jerry Jones. Many have considered CBA amendments allowing for an expanded schedule to be an inevitability after the 2020 agreement paved the way for a move from 16 games to 17. Stephen Jones, COO of the Cowboys, recently spoke on that point.

“I’m on the competition committee. We’ve talked about this knowing that it’s probably inevitable,” Jones said during an appearance on The Athletic’s Scoop City podcast. “I do know, at the end of the day, the players enjoy the compensation that’s coming their way, and they get, for the most part, half of every revenue dollar that comes through the door. So certainly getting paid well. We all know when we go to 18 games, our revenue’s going to jump, and certainly [that] should only help in terms of money available to pay players and get players the compensation.”

Plenty of time remains under the current terms of the CBA for negotiations to take place and a formal agreement to be reached. Given the eagerness shown on the part of the owners and Howell’s willingness to engage in early dialogue, though, it would not come as a surprise if traction were to be gained in the relatively near future.

Even though the 2020 CBA does not contain language giving owners an option to expand the schedule to 18 games, enough steam has built on this matter that players are anticipating another game will be added to the regular season in the not-too-distant future. How the NFL will go about this remains to be seen, but it now looks likely the league’s slate could expand twice in the same decade.

The NFL bent significantly on working conditions in 2011, drastically changing how offseasons run and the format for in-season practices, in exchange for a rookie wage scale and the players giving up a small revenue percentage. More practice restrictions came in 2020, with fifth-year options now more favorable for players and the league’s drug policy relaxed. A move to 18 will require more concessions from the league. While no talks have occurred, per Roger Goodell, they are widely expected to commence down the road.

[RELATED: ‘Considerable Support’ In Place For 18-Game Schedule]

One may need to be roster size. Players privy to NFLPA discussions know an NFL push for 18 games is on the horizon, according to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, who indicates one of the areas the union will need to see augmented is the 53-man roster. Clubs are currently permitted 53 active-roster players; that number rises to 55 on gamedays. Teams can dress 48 players. That number may increase, with Florio adding the union will be expected to seek at least 55 players on regular-season rosters. That would mean 57 on gamedays and 50 eligible to suit up.

The league did not intend to move straight from 10- to 16-man practice squads in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic prompted midsummer adjustments. One of those brought the 16-man P-squad, which remains in place today. It is not known if the NFLPA will seek more P-squad slots, but Florio expects it will push for increased flexibility regarding elevations. Currently, teams can elevate a P-squad non-quarterback three times per season before he is exposed to waivers. For emergency QB purposes, teams will go into this season with unlimited elevations.

It would not surprise, then, to hear rumblings of more IR-return slots being introduced. Teams currently have eight such activations available during the regular season, but an offseason rule change greenlit two more for the playoffs. Teams also no longer no longer will need to carry injured players they are planning to activate over to IR upon setting their initial 53; two players can be stashed before the final roster is set. While a move to the 2020-21 COVID-era setup — which featured unlimited IR activations — may be a stretch, more freedom to bring back recovered players will likely come up as well.

The NFL will need to approve more than a roster expansion for this to happen, as the players would have rare bargaining power due to the CBA running through March 2031. Two bye weeks, nixed by TV networks in 2020, will likely merit a more lengthy discussion if/when the 18-game push commences in earnest.

Many around the league anticipate the move from 17 to 18 happens via CBA amendment, CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones adds. That would open the door to the schedule expanding again during the decade, but Jones adds some have suggested the notion of the league and union hammering out a new CBA altogether could also be a solution.

The sides memorably could not prevent a lockout during the 2011 CBA talks, but they did come together on a deal that avoided another CBA-driven work stoppage in 2020. That said, the number of issues that will arise from the schedule again expanding would make it somewhat farfetched to envision another new CBA coming out years before the current deal expires. This would be the first major test for new NFLPA chief Lloyd Howell, as DeMaurice Smith was in place as executive director for the 2011 and ’20 agreements.

Goodell already spoke of the elimination of a second preseason game. Starting the regular season one week earlier than the current schedule’s opener, moving Week 1 to Labor Day weekend, and then adding a second bye would allow the Super Bowl to coincide with Presidents’ Day weekend — a previously rumored NFL goal. The NFLPA’s upcoming proposal to reorganize the offseason — which is not going over well with coaches or execs — looks to be part of the union’s plan for capitalizing on its leverage.

Securing an 18-game schedule before 2029 would bolster the NFL’s position for TV rights, as the league can opt out of its early-2020s deals in 2029. This should be viewed as a strong NFL consideration, Jones adds, and increased TV revenue obviously will lead to bigger cap spikes — as the past two offseasons have shown.

The NFL’s 14-game era spanned 17 seasons, its 16-game schedule 43. Unless a major course change comes, the 17-game schedule seems unlikely to make it through a decade. Long a fringe talking point, the 18-game season will obviously be a central storyline within the league for the foreseeable future.

OTAs are ongoing around the NFL as teams proceed with the third and final phase of voluntary offseason workouts. Things could look much different in that regard next year.

The NFL Players’ Association is finalizing a proposal to dramatically alter the layout of the offseason schedule, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network details. The new arrangement would call for a lengthy spell of time off for teams and players during the spring when voluntary workouts currently take place, with a ramp-up period to training camp beginning in mid-June. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk previously reported that the NFLPA was exploring such a proposal.

An official framework is expected to be in place this summer, per Pelissero, who adds the changes could take effect as early as next offseason. That would require an agreement with the NFL, since the structure of offseason workouts is collectively bargained. The majority of the players support the revisions, which would allow for meetings to take place during the spring but no on-field practices.

As for coaches and front office staffers, SI.com’s Albert Breer notes support for such a change does not appear present. The gap between minicamp and training camp falling when it does allows for family vacations, as it falls outside the schoolyear. Moving the period without offseason workouts to May would stand to interfere with staffers’ schedules, though many players’ families would also be impacted by this change.

Of course, this news comes against the backdrop of the NFL seeking another expansion to the regular season schedule. Commissioner Roger Goodell and many of the league’s owners are on board with an 18-game slate, something which needs to be bargained with the union. Adding a second bye week has been floated as one of several concessions to the NFLPA which could be required to exchange one preseason contest for an additional regular season one, and an expansion of time off during the spring could represent another.

A number of factors will need to be considered before any formal agreement is in place on this front. As Ben Volin of the Boston Globe notes, many players around the NFL have offseason workout bonuses in their contracts. The elimination of voluntary workouts (and therefore attendance at that portion of teams’ programs) would make such clauses moot. It will be interesting to see how the league’s owners respond once the proposal is finalized.

Pelissero notes the NFLPA consulted medical and performance personnel as part of the process of working out a revised offseason schedule. Allowing players more time off after the campaign has ended coupled with an uninterrupted period of OTA-like work immediately followed by training camp in the summer would certainly mark a drastic change from the status quo. If sufficient support exists for the changes, though, they could be made in relatively short order.