The voting period has opened.
No, not for the Presidential primaries or that upcoming election. This is for the NFL's potential new collective bargaining agreement. The owners had already approved this current version. The NFLPA's board of player representatives recently voted (by a 17-14 vote, with one abstention) to push it through to a vote of all players. Today that window opened, for the next seven days. At the end of that time, we'll know if there is a new CBA or not.
The CBA is approved if 50 percent plus one of the players who vote approve. Otherwise, no. And there are plenty of vocal players who have made it plain they want to turn this down.
"I'm the type of guy who puts a lot of thought into decisions like that," safety Budda Baker said Thursday morning during an interview on Arizona Sports, 98.7 FM. "It's a very complex ballot. I'm going to read it to the best of my ability, ask questions from both sides, veterans and younger players, and go from there."
The new CBA would include a 17th game, a cut from four to three preseason games, and an extra playoff team in each conference. It would include reductions in padded practices in the offseason. But the players also have to decide if what they have been offered is enough to justify playing an extra regular-season game.
If the CBA is passed, that will mean labor peace through the 2030 season. If not, the NFL will continue to go into the 2020 season as the last year of the current CBA, which would expire in March of 2021. As of now, the league is operating under "last year of the CBA" rules, which includes the ability to use both a franchise tag and a transition tag. Most years, you can only use one tag per offseason, which the league would revert to if this CBA is ratified.
