Source: NFL, players agree to 7-day CBA extension
NEW YORK
The league and the players' union agreed Friday on a seven-day
extension of the collective bargaining agreement. The CBA was set
to run out on Thursday before a 24-hour extension was granted.
Federal mediator George Cohen announced the new agreement. Talks
will resume Monday.
"We are continuing to work hard, to identify solutions," NFL
Commissioner Roger Goodell said. "We believe that, as I've said
many times before, that this will be solved through negotiations
and that's what we're focused on."
"We'll continue to work hard, and we'll be back next week."
NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith also
planned to speak to the media.
Both sides met for the 11th day with Cohen before settling on a
plan to keep talking. If the CBA expires the owners could lock out
the players, and the union could decertify to try and prevent that
through the courts -- something the NFLPA did in 1989.
"Talking is better than litigating," Goodell said.
For the moment, it at least staves off the NFL's first work
stoppage since the 1987 players' strike. It certainly indicates
neither the owners nor the players are ready to make a bold move to
shut down a league that rakes in $9 billion a year.
But the extension doesn't mean the sides have gotten close on
the key issues:
-- How to divide the league's revenues, including what cut team
owners should get up front to help cover certain costs, such as
stadium construction. Under the old deal, owners received about $1
billion off the top. They entered these negotiations seeking to add
another $1 billion to that.
-- A rookie wage scale, and how much of the money saved by the
owners under such a system would go to veteran players.
-- The owners' push to expand the regular season from 16 games to
18 while reducing the preseason by two games. The players oppose
that idea, citing health factors, especially the number of injuries
already sustained during a 16-game regular season.
-- Benefits for retired players.