Football is back for real this time. NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith said “Enough votes are in. The CBA is ratified.”
After two weeks of intense negotiation, the NFL players voted to approve the new collective bargaining agreement at team meetings around the country.
Buffalo Bills linebacker Shawne Merriman, commented via Twitter, “The new league year has started football is officially back”
Rey Maualuga, linebacker for the Cincinnati Bengals, also tweeted in, “Glad the new CBA is taken care of. We can finally practice as a whole!”
Veteran free agents had not permitted to practice with their new teams until the CBA was approved, making their new contracts official. With a compressed training camp schedule, teams across the country scheduled practices to begin at 4:00pm Eastern with the hope that the CBA would be approved.
As the minutes ticked past the deadline, the situation grew a bit surreal as veteran free agents suited up in full pads and stood around the sidelines awaiting word from the league that the CBA had been approved.
Tough issues in the down to the wire negotiations included player conduct policy and disciplinary process, and drug testing for human growth hormone. Currently no U.S. professional sports league tests its players for HGH. HGH typically requires blood testing, whereas the other substances that violate the league’s drug policy are detected by urine testing.
George Atallah spokesperson for the NFLPA tweeted, “Congratulations players, owners and fans. Let’s play football.”
