Report: NFL, union agree on rookie wage scale
There may not be an agreement on how to divvy up $9 billion in revenue but at least some progress is being made in the NFL labor negotiations.
Two sources tell Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports that the owners and NFLPA have reached a "basic compromise on a rookie wage scale that will replace the current rookie salary cap."
According to the sources, the owners dropped their demand to force first-round picks to sign five-year deals, and instead agreed to limit the contracts to four years before a player could become a free agent. The deal is also expected to include a clause that limits guaranteed money and signing bonuses, Yahoo! Sports reports.
As CBSSports.com's Andy Benoit reports, previously players picked 1-16 could sign six-year deals; players picked 17-32 could sign for five years. But a shorter four-year deal allows good players to reach free agency faster. That's key when you're talking about limiting those players' salaries.
Benoit notes that it is not yet known just how limited those salaries will be. Cole reports that the owners' initial offer was for the top overall pick to receive a five-year deal worth $19 million, with $6 million guaranteed. That would be about a $44 million drop from what Sam Bradford received last year.
Despite the reported progress on the rookie wage scale front, the two sides are still at odds over the issue of financial transparency.
The financial information the NFL has offered to turn over during labor negotiations doesn't include the data requested nearly two years ago by the head of the players' union.
In a letter dated May 18, 2009 — a copy of which was obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press — NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith asked Commissioner Roger Goodell to "provide audited financial statements concerning the operations of the 32 clubs and the league."
Smith attached a list of 10 categories of information he sought, including: total operating income; total operating expenses; profit from operations; net income; cash and investment assets.
The NFL proposed this week to provide new financial data, but the union said it wasn't enough to satisfy the players' call for full disclosure.
On his way into Wednesday's mediation session, NFL general counsel Jeff Pash said the issue of financial transparency — a key sticking point in labor talks this week — "really should be behind us." "We've made more information available in the course of this negotiation than has ever been made available in decades of collective bargaining with the NFLPA," Pash said. "Far more information. And we've offered to make even more information (available), including information that we do not disclose to our own clubs."