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Sources: 48 percent share for players


F.Chowds

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Among the details NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is revealing to owners Tuesday at the owners' meeting in Rosemont, Ill., is that in the next proposed agreement players will receive a 48 percent share of "all revenue," without the $1-billion-plus credit off the top that had been a point of contention in earlier negotiations, according to sources familiar with the presentation.

Under the new formula being negotiated, players will receive 48 percent of all revenue and will never dip below a 46.5 percent take of the money, sources said.

In the previous collective bargaining agreement, players received approximately 60 percent of "total revenue" but that did not include $1 billion that was designated as an expense credit off the top of the $9 billion revenue model. Owners initially were seeking another $1 billion in credit only to reduce that amount substantially before exercising the lockout on March 13.

Ultimately, the two sides have decided to simplify the formula, which will eliminate some tedious accounting audits of the credit the players have allowed in the previous deal. NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith has stated that players were actually receiving around 53 percent of all revenues instead of the much advertised 60 percent.

Owners still will get some expense credits that will allow funding for new stadium construction, sources said.

A rookie wage scale will be part of the new deal but is still being "tweaked," and the much-discussed 18-game regular season will be designated only as a negotiable item with the players and at no point is mandated in a potential agreement. A new 16-game Thursday night TV package beginning in 2012 will be the source of new revenue.

As revenues are projected to possibly double by 2016 to $18 billion annually, retired players will benefit from improved health and pension funding that is expected to increase significantly.

Players believe they can justify a 48 percent take because of the projected revenue growth, as well as built-in mechanism that require teams to spend a minimum of 90-93 percent of the salary cap, sources said. The mandatory minimum spending increase is an element that concerns lower-revenue clubs, sources say.

The negotiating teams for the owners and players, led by Goodell and Smith, are expected to return to the table either Wednesday and Thursday, hoping to build off the momentum of three strong weeks of talks under the supervision of a court-appointed mediator, U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan.

Cautious expectations on the two sides reaching an agreement in principle are varied, ranging from one-to-three weeks with the hopes of beginning a new league year (free agency, etc) by mid-July.

Any breakdown in talks could result in the loss of preseason games and threaten the opening of the regular season.

Chris Mortensen is ESPN's senior NFL analyst.

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A new 16-game Thursday night TV package beginning in 2012 will be the source of new revenue.

meh, not a big fan of this. otherwise, as long as the draft and the cap stay, I don't care how they slice the pie

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That's a fair deal, IMO. I love that there will be funded protections for retired players in it. If that's really the deal as presented, the owners got their balls kicked in.

I thought the NFL owners were greedy, no good, Leer jet riding SOBs responsible for keeping down the masses?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYiKdJoSsb8

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That's a fair deal, IMO. I love that there will be funded protections for retired players in it. If that's really the deal as presented, the owners got their balls kicked in.

Depends on how much of an increase for the retired folks. My guess is its not significant considering the union never cares about it and the fact that the report almost makes it seem like the increase is simply being something projected on league revenues doubling in a few years, which makes me think whatever the funding percentage is will be tied into how much revenue is earned in any given year over the current 9 billion or so.

Under the old deal the NFL had to spend 50% of total revenue on players to avoid triggers to the cap. I believe they did that in every year but the 2009 year which is probably because teams began preparing for the lockout, didn’t get into too many long term big deals, and also never expected the ever growing cap. The last CBA saw the percentage that went to the players rise over the course of the CBA. The 46.5% deal sounds like it might be able to fall, though its possible that that will be the cutoff for a cap (i.e. if spending drops below 46.5% the cap goes away the following year) to exist and ESPN is just reporting it without saying that its just an accounting number.

I would think many in the NFL are happy with the deal. The lower upper limit will help limit contract growth, which is the real problem the owners had since salaries were starting to get out of control(Aso, the rookie QBs, even Bart Scott have all been head scratchers), and in theory the higher floor should make the NFL even more competitive by putting teams on an even closer cap footing. That should keep both sides happy.

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