In his first public comments since becoming executive director of the NFL Players Association — via an interview with a subscription platform that plenty of his constituents likely don’t subscribe to — JC Tretter addressed the critical question of Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations.
The current deal runs through the 2030 season. However, the NFL and NFLPA can negotiate about any subject at any time. On the heels of the last CBA, for example, the pandemic forced the two sides back to the table for a mini-CBA to address the short- and long-term consequences of a full season with a smattering of in-stadium revenue.
There’s a sense among those in the know (and me) that the NFL has been biding its time on two key questions for which time is of the essence: The expansion of the regular season from 17 to 18 games (along with an increase in permissible international games from 10 per year to 16).
The league clearly wants those things. Patriots owner Robert Kraft earlier this year spoke about them as a given.
And for good reason. The NFL will get 18 regular-season games and 16 international games, sooner or later. Come 2031, they’ll lock the players out until they say “uncle” as to the two things the league covets. As everyone learned from both the 1987 strike and the 2011 lockout, one side (management) will shut the sport down for a year to get what it wants. The other side (labor) won’t go without a season of play and pay to resist it.
So if it’s inevitable in five years, the question is whether the timetable can be accelerated. The thinking is that the NFL will chase the bouquet the Commissioner threw to Tretter last week with an effort to get down to business.
Here was the key question, from Mike Jones of The Athletic: “How quickly do you think that these owners are going to ask you guys to come to the table?”
“Uh, now, because they can ask, right?” Tretter said. “They could call me tomorrow and ask. The answer is no. We’re not in a position to do that. . . . We’re not willing to do that. In the end, those are decisions that will be made by our players, our executive committee, our board. They just hired the director. I need to come in and make sure that this organization stabilizes. I think David [White] did a great job. Kudos to David White for stepping in in a really difficult time and stabilizing the organization. I need to continue that, and I need to start building us forward. And the time for stabilizing has really ended. We’ve stabilized now. We need to start building up to do the things we need to do.
“That’s what I’m tasked with. It’s looking forward to doing that. . . . But we’re not going to start [negotiating] until we’re ready to start, because if we start before we’re ready, we’re not going to succeed in our job. . . . I’m sure they’ll ask. I’m sure they’ll poke around. That’s not surprising. They’ve been kind of poking around publicly, at least for a while, but that’s fine. It’s their job to ask. Our job is to be ready. Our job is to be prepared, and our job is to succeed. That’s what we’re focused on doing.”
Ready or not, here they come. It may be less of a negotiation and more of a presentation. My own theory (crackpot or otherwise) is that the league will communicate in the very near future a comprehensive offer for an 18-game season and 16 international games. The details are likely already in place, with next week’s annual meetings likely serving as the vehicle for getting final approval to proceed.
The offer could go like this: “Here’s what we’ll give you to agree to 18 games starting in 2027. And here’s what the offer will become if you make us wait until 2028. Here’s what it will be if you make us wait until 2029. He’s what it will be if you make us wait until 2030. And here’s what it will be if we have to lock you out in 2031.”
No, it’s not a negotiation. The union, I believe, will be presented with multiple options, along with a firm deadline for accepting 18 regular-season games as of 2027. Tretter’s first big decision will be whether he can properly assess the choices and make one, even as he separately stabilizes the organization. (Whether it truly needs to be stabilized depends on whether White truly did a “great job” during his eight-month stint as interim executive director. Obviously, White didn’t do enough to get the job moving forward.)
Either way, the NFL is surely ready to move. The NFL has enjoyed stability during the union’s extended run of chaos. The NFL, made up of some of the richest and most powerful businesspeople in the world, has a plan. That plan is soon going to be put into motion. And Tretter will have to decide whether he’s willing to take more now or less later.
They’ll make it look like a no-brainer. Frankly, it may not be difficult to do that. The imbalance as to the willingness to endure the nuclear option (a work stoppage) makes it clear that the NFLPA’s best interests will be served by voluntarily accepting better terms now, in lieu of reluctantly swallowing lesser terms later.
And 2027 continues to be the target. As PFT reported the day after Super Bowl LX, there’s still no firm date for Super Bowl LXII in Atlanta. It’s unheard of to be within two years of a Super Bowl with no specific date for it. The convention center needs to be booked for a full week of media events, the NFL Experience, and other activities. Thousands of hotel rooms must be reserved.
They’ve waited, as we’ve reported, to pick a specific date for the Super Bowl to be played in little more than 22 months because of the possibility that, come 2027, the regular season will be extended to 18 games.
So, yes, it’s coming. Tretter can try to refuse to engage. That won’t stop the NFL from making the union an offer it can’t refuse that entails 18 games in 2027, because refusal will result in lesser terms and lesser terms and lesser terms and ultimately a set of terms the players will accept as they stand on the brink of missing game checks.
Read the full article here