The NFL held a meeting Thursday to discuss a new collective bargaining agreement with proposed changes to the regular season and playoff format. The current CBA is set to expire in March 2021.
Players are reportedly torn on the idea of extending the regular season to 17 games unless certain requests are granted including fewer regular season practices and a shorter training camp. Another proposal presented to players was the possibility of allowing seven teams from each conference to make the playoffs instead of the current system which takes six from each conference. If this agreement is made, only the No. 1 seed from each conference will be granted a first-round bye.
An anonymous source involved in CBA negotiations spoke to ESPN regarding two extra teams making the playoffs. “That’s been agreed to for a long time,” the source said. “There wasn’t a lot of disagreement to that issue.”
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Players representatives reportedly are split into three different categories on the 17-game season issue. There are those who don’t want the season extended, those who will accept it with changes to the deal and others that will accept the deal as currently constructed. The NFLPA said the players will only vote on the proposed CBA agreement if a majority of the 32 Board of Player Representatives vote in favor of the deal, according to ESPN.
For current and former player reactions, checkout their tweets listed below:
