It seems like an aberration during a week where almost none of the news from the sports world has had anything to do with sports, but we actually have real sports news, big news in fact.
The NFL Players Association has voted to accept the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.
“NFL players have voted to approve ratification of a new collective bargaining agreement by a vote tally of 1,019 to 959,” the union posted on Twitter. “This result comes after a long and democratic process in accordance with our constitution. An independent auditor received submitted ballots through a secure electronic platform, then verified, tallied and certified the results.”
What does that mean? As ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports, that means some very big changes are coming to the game.
The 17-game regular season and expanded playoffs are the headline changes to the new agreement. As Bears reporter Larry Mayer writes:
The deal is also important from a free agency standpoint:
The next big issue for the NFL is the Draft and whether there will be fan attendance in Las Vegas five weeks from now when it is scheduled to occur. Of course, whether the regular season starts as scheduled is also a big question.
However, whenever the regular season starts, it will go one week longer and more teams will make the playoffs.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn