New Collective Bargaining Agreement Highlights

Posted by Mike Florio on July 25, 2011, 2:16 PM EDT

AP

PFT has obtained a summary of the labor deal that was approved today by the NFLPA* Executive Committee and board of player representatives.

We’d ordinarily think of some funny or poignant turn of phrase right here, but time’s-a-wastin’.

Regarding the issue of the minimum per-team cash spend (something for which Saints quarterback Drew Brees recently told teammates via e-mail he would be fighting), the two sides agreed that each franchise will spend at least 89 percent of the cap, on a four-year average from 2013 through 2016, and from 2017 through 2020.  (Across the entire league, the NFL has committed to spending 99 percent of the cap space in 2011 and 2012, and 95 percent for the rest of the deal.)

Teams will be allowed to have a whopping 90 players on the roster during training camp.

The timeline meshes exactly with the timeline we posted earlier today.  (It was never revised due to the slight delay in the voting process.)

The league year will begin August 4, unless the CBA is ratified sooner than that by the players.

Workout bonuses will be paid in full if a player is not waived before 4:01 p.m. ET on July 29.  If the player is waived before then, the full amount will be paid if the bonus was less than $50,000.  From $50,000 to $100,000, the player will get $50,000.  For bonuses over $100,000, the player will get half, up to $100,000.

Roster and option bonuses to be earned during the lockout will be earned if the player is on the roster at 4:00 p.m. ET on July 29.  (That could be called the Vince Young rule.)

As to injury protection, a player will get half of his salary, up to $1 million, in the season after a catastrophic injury. In the second year, he’ll get 30 percent, up to $500,000.

As to the workers’ compensation forum-shopping issue, the question of whether players will be permitted to file claims in California despite never playing for a team headquartered there will continue to be subject ongoing litigation on that point.  (There goes the league’s desire for a clean courtroom slate.)

There is no opt out, as previously reported by Albert Breer of NFL Network.  It’s a firm, 10-year contract.

Stay tuned for more details as we try to digest the paperwork that already is flooding the PFT e-mailbox.

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New CBA Agreement in place; players reviewing deal prior to vote

Source NFL.com

WASHINGTON –- The lockout could well be in its final hours, and a timeline for league business opening appears to be in place.

Legal teams for NFL owners and players negotiated through the weekend and deep into Monday morning, wrapping up at 3 a.m. with an agreement on basic terms.

According to multiple sources, the deal is not 100 percent done, but the final document is. The 32 team player reps began a conference call at 11 a.m. ET and are going over a summary of the deal, with some of the key points of contention pulled out ad explained. Sources say there is no opt-out in the deal, so the current agreement will last for 10 years without the ability to renegotiate. 

Meanwhile, the sides have agreed to a timeline that would allow some transactions and league business to begin Tuesday, sources with direct knowledge of the situation told NFL Network insider Jason La Canfora.

The process to get to the league year, including rules for full unrestricted free agency between teams includes "wrinkles" and will be more complicated than expected.

According to sources, the final draft includes trades and rookie signings starting Tuesday and waivers starting Thursday. All other signings can be begin at 6 p.m. ET Friday, but negotiations between free agents and teams would start Tuesday, including unrestricted free agents talking to teams other than their own. So the three-day window would not exist in a way many originally believed.

The NFL Players Association has scheduled a Monday conference call to brief agents on the rules of the new collective bargaining agreement.

According to another source, 10 teams would open camp Wednesday, another 10 Thursday, another 10 Friday, and the remaining two on Sunday.

Players are expected to report to their teams Wednesday under this timeline, sources said. All of this is subject to both sides ratifying and the NFL Players Association recertifying

The goal is for a vote to follow today's NFLPA conference call. Some members of the 13-man executive committee weren’t expected to arrive in D.C. until the 11 o’clock hour.

The player reps would be first to vote on the deal. After that, the 10 plaintiffs in the Brady et al v. National Football League et al lawsuit would have to sign off, which is fully expected.

NFL.com experts investigate the pressing issues facing each team when the lockout ends: » AFC East: Team needs | Where we left off » NFC East: Team needs | Where we left off » AFC North: Team needs | Where we left off » NFC North: Team needs | Where we left off » AFC South: Team needs | Where we left off » NFC South: Team needs | Where we left off » AFC West: Team needs | Where we left off » NFC West: Team needs | Where we left off

The league's old labor deal expired in March, and the owners locked out the players for the NFL's first work stoppage since 1987.

"We have every reason to believe it's going to be a good day," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

The major economic framework for the deal was worked out more than a week ago.

That included how the more than $9 billion in annual league revenues will be divided (about 53 percent to owners and 47 percent to players over the next decade; the old CBA resulted in nearly a 50-50 split); a per-club cap of about $120 million for salary and bonuses in 2011 -- and at least that in 2012 and 2013 -- plus about $22 million for benefits; a salary system to rein in spending on first-round draft picks; and unrestricted free agency for most players after four seasons.

Once the 32 team representatives approve a deal, the total NFLPA membership would need to vote, with a simple majority required for passage.

The 10 named plaintiffs in the players' lawsuit against the league -- including Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees -- must officially inform the court in Minneapolis of their approval of the pact, too.

Even after that, while training camps would be opened, a true collective bargaining can't be agreed upon until the NFLPA re-establishes itself as a union. Players will need to vote to do so even as the sides put the finishing touches on a deal; only after the NFLPA is again a union can it negotiate such items as the league's personal conduct policy and drug testing.

NFL Network insider Jason LaCanfora and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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