Seahawks Tyler Lockett a no as NFL CBA goes to full players vote, threatens to split union
Tyler Lockett has joined the line of accomplished, veteran players voting no.
That line’s grown so long, you’d think they were handing out Super Bowl rings. Russell Wilson. Bobby Wagner. Richard Sherman. Quandre Diggs. Todd Gurley. Patrick Peterson. Kenyon Drake. All have stated or endorsed their opposition to the new collective bargaining agreement NFL owners are proposing.
And that’s just inside the NFC West.
Yet the the league’s minimum-salary players, the majority of the NFL, appear to be in favor of ratifying the new labor deal. It would be in effect through 2030.
It threatens to split the union these collectively bargained agreements are supposed to universally help.
The CBA went to the full membership of the NFL Players’ Association Thursday. That’s approximately 2,000 players. The players’ union announced voting will close on Thursday, March 12, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.
Lockett, Seattle’s top wide receiver, followed that notice with one of his own on Twitter.
Wilson, the Seahawks’ quarterback, declared on his social-media account “I VOTE NO.”
Wagner, his teammate and All-Pro linebacker who is also the highest-paid player at his position, retweeted Rams’ star running back Todd Gurley’s VOTE NO!! online.
Diggs has also written online his support for no voters. He is Seattle’s veteran safety and was a Pro Bowl alternate in 2019.
ESPN’s Rob Demovsky reported Wagner challenged the five members of the players’ union’s executive council who voted for the owners’ proposed CBA “to explain why they liked the deal.” That was on an NFLPA conference call two weeks ago.
The executive council of veteran players voted against the owners’ proposed CBA. But the 32 team player representatives, who have ears for all players on all teams, approved it to go forward for a union-wide vote, 17 for, 14 against and one abstention. That is evidence of the split among players.
A simple majority of all union members who ultimately vote is required to approve the proposed CBA. And the majority of the NFL are minimum-salary guys. They make up almost 60 percent of the union.
Lockett, Wilson, Wagner, Diggs make a combined $245 million.
That’s how this proposed CBA is splitting the union. It’s another way the owners win by getting it approved now, 12 months before the current labor agreement in the league expires.
The established veterans, the “haves,” are adamant they aren’t going to agree to the proposed CBA’s additional, 17th regular season game beginning in the 2021 season. Not with the owners offering only up to 48.5 percent of the league’s annual revenues. When this negotiation of a new labor deal began last year, many players talked about raising their take of NFL revenues from the current 47 percent to closer to a 50-50 split.
The richer veteran players are wondering why the owners have a sudden urgency to complete this CBA agreement with a year still remaining on the existing labor deal. They want a slice still to be determined of the league’s upcoming new television and digital contracts. Those network rights will be worth tens of billions of dollars to the league annually.
The “haves” among players also want more guaranteed salaries, like exist in Major League Baseball and the NBA. That’s what Wilson is citing.
But the NFL union, fractured and beaten up for decades by walkouts, lockouts and owners winning in labor negotiations, is nowhere near as strong nor unified as baseball’s or basketball’s. It’s also tougher to unify in belief and resolve when there are twice as many players on each NFL team than in MLB and the NBA. And when most of the footballers aren’t guaranteed anything beyond the week in which they are playing.
The rank and file players that make up the bulk of the league want to take what the owners are offering now, while it exists. It’s an increase of approximately $5 billion to players during the 10 years of the new CBA. The minimum salary would go from $495,000 in 2019 to $610,000 this year, to at least $690,000 in 2021 and to at least $735,000 in 2022. That’s a nearly 50 percent increase over the first three years of the new deal.
The owners’ proposal includes:
- 47 percent of annual league revenue again in 2020, plus another $100 million in new player costs above that for this year.
- Guaranteed 48-percent share of revenue in 2021. That share would increase to 48.5 percent in any season the league plays 17 regular-season games, which is a key part of the proposed CBA
- A $100,000 increase in rookie minimum salaries in 2020, increasing again by $50,000 in 2021 then by $45,000 each year after that
- A $90,000 increase this year for other minimum-salary players, a bump of $80,000-105,000 in 2021, then by $45,000 each year after that
- Raises for practice-squad players to $10,500 per week
- Increasing practice squads from 12 to 14 players, with two spots for any player regardless of accrued seasons
- Increase in pay for all offseason activities
- Contract escalator clauses for second-round picks, who don’t have them under the current CBA
- Reduced testing for marijuana to the first two weeks of training camp only, and reduced penalties for a positive test for marijuana that essentially eliminates suspension for it
- Expansion of the playoffs to two more wild-card teams, creating one more wild-card playoff game. Only the top seed in each conference would have a bye through the wild-card round of the new postseason format
- A new right for the players to be paid over a 34-week period to include the offseason. Players currently get their salary paid in 17-week installments solely during the regular season
Cleveland Browns center J.C Tretter, a Cornell graduate who has earned $26.8 million in his career, wrote on Twitter what he called a public-service announcement to all players. It really was an alarm. Green Bay Packers offensive tackle David Bakhtiari (career earnings: $40.5 million) re-tweeted it with emojis of red sirens as a headline.
It was a buyer-beware notice breaking down the details in the proposed CBA, details that Tretter and Bakhtiari believe are not in the best interest of union members for the next 10 years.
But here’s the bottom line the majority of the league’s players see: Under the current CBA the minimum salary is set to be $510,000 in 2020. The current CBA calls for minimum salaries to increase by $15,000 each year.
The owners’ proposed CBA would at least triple that annual increase.
That’s change in the couch cushions to stars like Wilson.
But it’s real money and progress for the rank and file player. It’s apparently what he wants and will take now. That’s why the league’s player reps voted to approve it on to a full player vote.
Even the timing of this vote is in the owners’ favor. It’s coming during the time of the year rank and file players are not getting paid. Players have to spread out their paychecks that come only during the regular season across the entire year; no base pay comes in outside of September through December. That’s not a problem for Wilson, Wagner, Diggs, Gurley, et al. Not only do they have huge salaries, they have endorsement contracts that pay them when their NFL teams do not in the spring and summer.
The majority of NFL players do not. To them, the owners are proposing twice as many paychecks, pay in March and at up to three times the minimum salary? Yes, please. No matter how much more players might ultimately be able to negotiate out of owners.
It’s a fight between those who have already made it and those trying to get there in a league with the lowest shelf life in sports.
By this time next week, we’ll know who wins.
This story was originally published March 6, 2020 at 7:54 AM.
