With the current NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement set to expire after the 2020 season, owners and players seem set to begin negotiating in an effort to avoid another work stoppage like the one that occurred back in 2011.
Yet this time around, owners are driving one big additive to the season, something that players are sure to push back heavily on, an 18 game regular season.
According to estimates done by the NFLPA, the extra two regular-season games would give the League and an additional $2.5 billion in revenue which will likely increase the salary cap roughly by $15 million. Offhand it would be expected that some of this money would trickle down to the players to the tune of a half a billion dollars in extra revenue writes Andrew Beaton of the Wall Street Journal.
So hey playing more games means more money for the League and the players. Everyone benefits right?
Well, there’s always a catch when it comes to capitalism.
Aside from the irregular labor value I’m sure the players are still getting hosed on, the NFLPA estimates the additional two games to a season would reduce the average career length from 3.3 years to 2.8.
Why is this significant you say?
Well, players don’t become eligible for post-career benefits until they’ve played three full seasons so it seems pretty easy to connect the dots with this one. Initially, players will receive more money, like the owners however the League (as well as the owners) will get more money in the long-run if they don’t have to pay the post-career benefits if there’s an influx of players that don’t make it to three service years.
Meanwhile, the owners came up with some asinine solution (shocking I know) to the NFLPA study suggesting that regular seasons stay at 18 games but only allow players to play in 16 of them. Which in that case I’m sure players wouldn’t receive quite the monetary increase while the owners and League still get there’s but with a shittier on-field product.
