With the NFL intent on expanding the regular season to 18 games, the NFL Players Association is pressing pause.
Mark Maske of the Washington Post reports that the NFLPA “is not expected to engage” in bargaining with the league about an 18-game regular season, or any other issues, until “at least early next year.”
There had been a belief that the talks would intensify this summer. The reason for the delay isn’t clear.
Some will think that the talks have been tabled because the union is dealing with a federal investigation regarding its connection to OneTeam Partners. “It has nothing to do with that,” an unnamed source insisted to Maske. (Which may only cause some to think it has everything to do with that.)
The update comes at a time when questions are still swirling (even if few are talking about it) regarding the NFLPA’s failure to use its recent success in the collusion case, both as to the ruling and as to the evidence, to its full advantage. From a media blitz to referral of the matter to the Department of Justice to any/all forms of rabble-rousing, the union has done nothing.
With the NFL intent on expanding the regular season to 18 games, the NFL Players Association is pressing pause.
Mark Maske of the Washington Post reports that the NFLPA “is not expected to engage” in bargaining with the league about an 18-game regular season, or any other issues, until “at least early next year.”
There had been a belief that the talks would intensify this summer. The reason for the delay isn’t clear.
Some will think that the talks have been tabled because the union is dealing with a federal investigation regarding its connection to OneTeam Partners. “It has nothing to do with that,” an unnamed source insisted to Maske. (Which may only cause some to think it has everything to do with that.)
The update comes at a time when questions are still swirling (even if few are talking about it) regarding the NFLPA’s failure to use its recent success in the collusion case, both as to the ruling and as to the evidence, to its full advantage. From a media blitz to referral of the matter to the Department of Justice to any/all forms of rabble-rousing, the union has done nothing.
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The league will get 18 games; it’s just a question of when. At the latest, it’ll happen after the current Collective Bargaining Agreement expires. The owners will lock out the players until they realize they’re about to lose game checks. That’s when they’ll take the best deal on the table, consent to 18 games, and move on.
Will the NFL give up on getting to 18 sooner than that? Here’s the most important thing to watch — the timing of the Super Bowl to be played in Atlanta in early 2028.
Currently, there’s no date for it. If/when it locks in based on the current 17-game formula, the league will essentially be conceding that 18 will wait until at least the 2028 season.
The stakes seem to be far greater than 18 games, however. The owners want to expand the current limit of 10 international games each year to 16. Also, gratuitous comments from Commissioner Roger Goodell at the most recent ownership meetings seemed to be a strong hint at a looming effort to stop giving the players half of a pie that keeps growing and growing and growing.
The two sides can negotiate at any time. The union’s delay is either a matter of strategy, or necessity. Our guess, given the storm clouds currently gathering for the union, is that it’s the latter — despite the denial from the unnamed source.
