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The NFLPA Provides “The Economic Truth About The New NFL CBA”

There are plenty of great gatherings of Sports Law professionals and students interested in Sports Law, but year after year, the best event is the annual Sports Lawyers Association conference.  This year’s conference was held last week in San Diego, California.

The NFL Players Association typically holds its Certified Contract Advisor Session just prior to the “Breakout Sessions.”  I put forth my best efforts to get inside of the session, even though I am not certified as a Contract Advisor by the NFLPA (nor do I have any desire to be).  Unfortunately, the lady at the desk in front of the room denied my entrance (and she was not very nice about it, either).

Anyhow, I was able to get my hands on a document that the NFLPA handed out to its Contract Advisors at the meeting (a scanned copy of the document is embedded at the bottom of this post).  Titled, “The Economic Truth About The New NFL CBA,” the document provides bullet-points containing the “hard economic facts,” which are meant to reassure Contract Advisors that the players’ representatives (the union) did a good job at the bargaining table.

Basically, the NFLPA states that teams are spending more money on players (in cash and benefits), which includes an increase in the percentage of guaranteed money.  The guaranteed money increase appeared to be so significant that the NFLPA printed the same information in two separate bullet-points.

2012 SLA NFLpa Meeting Handout

By Darren Heitner

Darren Heitner created Sports Agent Blog as a New Year's Resolution on December 31, 2005. Originally titled, "I Want To Be A Sports Agent," the website was founded with the intention of causing Heitner to learn more about the profession that he wanted to join, meet reputable individuals in the space and force himself to stay on top of the latest news and trends.

Heitner now runs Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., which is a law firm with many practice areas, including sports law and contract law. Heitner has represented numerous athletes and sports agents as legal counsel. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington from 2011-2014, where he created and taught a course titled, Sport Agency Management, which included subjects ranging from NCAA regulations to athlete agent certification and the rules governing the profession. Heitner serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he teaches a Sports Law class that includes case law surrounding athlete agents and the NCAA rules.