In the offseason, one topic is currently dominating the headlines in the NFL: The new CBA, the collective bargaining agreement for NFL players. All negotiations between teams and players are based on this agreement. But what exactly are the players voting on?

In the Offseason, one topic is currently dominating the headlines in the NFL: The new Collective Bargaining Agreement for NFL players. All negotiations between players and teams are based on this agreement. But which topics will be covered in the new CBA? What exactly are the players voting on? ran.de presents the most important questions and answers about the CBA.

Over what period of time does the new CBA run?
The current collective agreement expires after the next season. Since the new contract is designed for a period of ten years, the new deal would run from the 2021 season until the end of the 2030 season.

How many season games will there be in the future?
A 17-match season for each team, which will also be voted on in the new CBA, is becoming increasingly likely. The final decision as to when the season will be extended will be made by the owners of the teams themselves between 2021 and 2023. Since a number of points are still unclear, such as an additional bye-week and which teams will be allowed to play one more home game, US experts expect 17 matches of the season to be played in 2022 at the earliest.

What does the new playoff format look like?
Both Conferences will get an additional playoff place, so that a total of 14 out of 32 teams will reach the Post Season. In the new format, there will inevitably be three wild-card games per conference and accordingly, only the best team of each conference will get a bye-week in the first playoff week.

Another positive change for the players is that players of teams in a bye-week will also get a salary check. Until today, the players of the best teams of the Regular Season had a financial disadvantage compared to those who were also active in the Wild Card Game.

Why should the players agree to the extension of the season and thus increase the risk of injury?
It’s simple: more games mean more money for the players. The additional play-off teams alone will increase the teams’ income by 150 million dollars, of which 48 percent, or 70.5 million dollars, will be left over for player salaries in the future. With the new CBA, this figure can even increase to 48.8 percent over the years. In addition, with the additional 17th game in the Regular Season there will be one more salary check for each player.

Which players benefit most?
As is well known, stars like Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson or Richard Sherman are against an expansion of the game schedule. That’s no wonder, because star players profit relatively little from an additional season game. On the other hand, players who only earn the minimum (about 60 percent of all NFL players) increase their salary by 20 percent.

Example: A player who has one year of NFL experience currently earns $510,000. This amount would increase to $610,000 with the new collective agreement. In addition, the amount will grow to up to $1.06 million during the CBA until 2030. The minimum income of a player will thus almost double within ten years.

Will the size of the squad be changed?
More games also means more jobs, because with the new CBA the NFL will allow 48 instead of the previous 46 players to play on matchday. One of these two new players must be an offensive lineman. In addition, the Practice Squad will also be increased from ten players to up to 14 players by 2022. Players on the Practice Squad will also earn more money in the future: Salaries will increase from the current $8,400 per week to $11,500 in 2022.

What does the new drug policy look like?
In the new CBA the use of marijuana will be significantly relaxed. Players may no longer be banned for using the drug. In addition, in the future a player will only be considered to have tested positive if he has more than 150 nanograms of marijuana in his blood. Up to now the limit has only been 35 nanograms.