What's all the fuss about the 2020 NFL CBA?

NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement 2020 : What's All The Fuss About?

Although most of the sports world remains in a hiatus, the NFL has been very busy as of late. Players voted to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement or CBA on March 14. Despite disapproval from many of the league's biggest stars including veterans J.J. Watt and Richard Sherman, the CBA was passed by a vote of 1,019 to 959. So what changes should we expect moving forward once the new deal goes into effect in 2021? Let's begin with some of the smaller, less important details before diving into the juiciness of the agreement.

Salaries

One of the major passing points from the players' perspective was that they will receive a 1% increase in their share of the revenue, which could increase slightly more if the league moves to expand the season an extra game, but we will get to that in a minute. On a smaller scale, this isn't much of a change, but it makes a huge difference when you're looking at the amount of money circulating around the league. The NFL minimum salary was immediately increased and will continue to rise until being capped at $1,000,000 by 2029. Players who compete in more than one international game will also receive a $5,000 stipend for each additional game, although this is a rare occasion and has never happened before. The new CBA benefits younger, less-experienced players without also taking money away from the league veterans.

Workout & Practice Policies

Workout and practice rules were also altered with the new deal. Veterans who have played four or more seasons are now allowed five absences including one from team activities without having to forfeit their offseason workout bonus. Teams now have to take a mandatory three-day break after competing in a Thursday night game, and players are only allowed to be at a team's facilities for a maximum of 12 hours in a 24 hour period. Padded practices throughout the season will be limited to only 14 sessions, and 11 of these must be held in the first 11 weeks. The practice squad size will also increase from 10 to 12 and once again to 14 in 2020, and the CBA also allows between two to four players with unlimited experience as opposed to the normal cap of two years of service.

Holdout & Drug Policies

One of the most annoying things in the NFL, especially for those of us who partake in fantasy football, is players holding out. The new CBA aims to limit these as there are now increased fines for players who are holding out or leave training camp without permission. Players who are late to training camp or are gone for more than five days without permission will not receive an accrued season for the year either. The league has done away with suspensions for positive drug tests, moving to fine players instead although they can still be suspended for refusing clinical care or testing more than three times. There will be a three-game suspension for a player each time they are given a DUI, although players are allowed to be at a team's facility for the second half of their suspension.

Roster Rules & Season Structure

Now we're starting to get into the good stuff. Each team can now designate a third player to return from the injured reserves list, as opposed to the normal two. The maximum size of a team's active roster for games have been increased from 46 players to 48. Each team can promote two players from their practice squad each week, and they don't have to replace said player(s) on the practice squad roster. One of the two biggest details in the new CBA is that the postseason will have a new look once the season comes to an end. The playoffs have been expanded to add 14 teams as opposed to 12 (see below for example using 2019's results). The last major detail in the deal is that the regular season could possibly be expanded to 17 games as near as 2021. The league and owners are still trying to work out details, and there will have to be some changes made in order to get the players on board as there has been much opposition to this change, and rightfully so due to the risk versus reward for players in playing a 17th game.

Conclusion

So what does this mean for the NFL moving forward, especially from a handicapper's perspective? Most likely, there will be less suspensions moving forward due to the changes in drug testing policies, which in theory should make teams better as the average length of suspensions for positive tests were around four games. An interesting note is that Josh Gordon's suspension is "lifted", although he will still have to apply to be reinstated in the league. The expanded playoffs won't add or remove any weeks, but it will add an additional game to the card on both Saturday and Sunday, which means more betting opportunities and additional revenue for the league. The new CBA benefits the players as well as the league, and it will be interesting to see how the regular season expansion is handled in the next year or so.