A number of NFL owners are hoping the proposed collective bargaining agreement doesn’t pass next week because they believe they can negotiate a better deal with eyes on an 18-game season in the future, a league source told ESPN.
“They think they can get a better deal next year,” the source said. “They feel they gave up too much on the economics.”
The owners told commissioner Roger Goodell of their belief at an owners meeting in New York in February, citing frustration with the players’ monetary gains and the increase in the size of active rosters in the proposal. The vote to approve the CBA proposal that’s currently in the hands of the players was not unanimous among the owners, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
A handful of owners want an 18-game season eventually, and that could come up in future negotiations if the players don’t approve the proposed CBA next week.
The idea of an 18-game season has been floated in the past, with DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the NFL Players Association, shutting it down.
“I don’t see an 18-game schedule — under any circumstance — being in the best interest of our players,” Smith said in July. “If somebody wants to make an 18-game proposal, we’ll look at it. I haven’t seen anything that makes me think that it would be good for the players.”