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Butting heads on longer season
By Albert R. Breer
Globe Staff / September 29, 2010
Colts president Bill Polian said Monday that the idea of an 18-game NFL schedule is no longer just an idea.
It is “a fait accompli,’’ he said.
And the NFL Players Association scrambled yesterday to maintain its position on one of the subjects most central to the league’s brewing labor strife.
At the very least, it seems the union’s concerns have been heard. Yesterday, during a bargaining session with the league, the players were presented for the first time with a formal proposal on the expansion of the regular season from 16 to 18 games, including a layout of how offseason conditioning programs, training camps, and the rules would change.
NFLPA president Kevin Mawae wouldn’t go so far as to call this progress, or characterize the tenor of the talks, since negotiations are ongoing. But he did say that he and the union were unhappy to hear another thump in the ongoing drumbeat that the “enhanced season’’ (as the owners call it) is inevitable.
“My knee-jerk reaction is that I didn’t know [Polian] had the authority to make announcements on his own,’’ Mawae said by phone last night. “But the way I understand it — and I had meetings all day — he said he wasn’t in favor of it.’’
To be clear, Polian wasn’t advocating the change. In fact, he has voiced concerns about the concept being pushed through without going through the proper process.
Mawae said that after receiving the proposal yesterday, the union will examine it and likely make a counterproposal in the coming weeks.
The league can push the expansion through on its own accord, but with difficult negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement ahead, it probably wouldn’t be wise to act unilaterally on such a hot-button subject.
Read more: http://www.boston.com/sports/football/articles/2010/09/29/butting_heads_on_longer_season/?page=full
By Albert R. Breer
Globe Staff / September 29, 2010
Colts president Bill Polian said Monday that the idea of an 18-game NFL schedule is no longer just an idea.
It is “a fait accompli,’’ he said.
And the NFL Players Association scrambled yesterday to maintain its position on one of the subjects most central to the league’s brewing labor strife.
At the very least, it seems the union’s concerns have been heard. Yesterday, during a bargaining session with the league, the players were presented for the first time with a formal proposal on the expansion of the regular season from 16 to 18 games, including a layout of how offseason conditioning programs, training camps, and the rules would change.
NFLPA president Kevin Mawae wouldn’t go so far as to call this progress, or characterize the tenor of the talks, since negotiations are ongoing. But he did say that he and the union were unhappy to hear another thump in the ongoing drumbeat that the “enhanced season’’ (as the owners call it) is inevitable.
“My knee-jerk reaction is that I didn’t know [Polian] had the authority to make announcements on his own,’’ Mawae said by phone last night. “But the way I understand it — and I had meetings all day — he said he wasn’t in favor of it.’’
To be clear, Polian wasn’t advocating the change. In fact, he has voiced concerns about the concept being pushed through without going through the proper process.
Mawae said that after receiving the proposal yesterday, the union will examine it and likely make a counterproposal in the coming weeks.
The league can push the expansion through on its own accord, but with difficult negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement ahead, it probably wouldn’t be wise to act unilaterally on such a hot-button subject.
Read more: http://www.boston.com/sports/football/articles/2010/09/29/butting_heads_on_longer_season/?page=full