The NFLPA and members of the NFL have begun the first series of meetings in an effort to extend the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), which expires in 2011. On the NFLPA’s website, union leader Gene Upshaw writes:

We met with NFL negotiators last Thursday in New York. Attendees included owners Jerry Richardson and Pat Bowlen, the League’s financial team and its new outside attorney, Bob Batterman. The NFL discussed the 32 teams’ financial condition and how the CBA has caused every club to lose money. They are attempting to gather financial information to share with the NFLPA. We made it clear that we are willing to discuss their financial condition, but we cannot expect our players to embrace the NFL’s position without the owners providing audited financial statements. This is just the first step in the process.

Prior labor agreements were structured with centralized revenues from television and ticket sales making up the majority of revenues paid out to the players. The current CBA adds in all team revenues. Everything from sponsorships and naming rights, to parking is now added in with the other revenue streams.

The CBA is structured for revenue sharing with the seventeen teams that pull in the lowest revenues not having to contribute to the player pool. The fifteen best revenue-generating teams now contribute to the pool, with the top five teams giving the most; the second five less; and the third five paying less still.

This has created a disparity between the haves and have-nots.

The deal was reached on March 26, 2007 by an owners vote of 30-2 vote with the Bengals and Jaguars opposing.

By November 8, 2008 the owners will have to decide whether to go forward and extend the deal, or opt out of the agreement. Odds seem very high that given the acrimony that occurred during the March ’06 negotiations that the an extension will difficult. It has been recently reported that the NFL’s G3 Fund – a centralized fund of the NFL’s used to assist franchises looking to build new stadiums – has reportedly dried up due to the massive undertakings by the Chiefs, as well as Giants and Jets, at the New Meadowlands.

The NFL distributed $300 million in loans from the G3 to the Jets and Giants, $42.5 million for the renovation to Arrowhead Stadium. Said Commissioner Goodell in his State of the League address in early February, "In addition to 60 percent of the league's gross going to players … stadium costs have increased substantially." He then added, “Our business has changed. ... We think these things need to be addressed in a new labor agreement.”

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Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He is contributor to Baseball Prospectus, and is available as a freelance writer.

Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network.

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