The entire slate of Houston Texans preseason games could be canceled.
In a bid to get the NFLPA to sign off on the NFL’s plans to start training camp and the regular season on time, the league reportedly offered the union zero preseason games.
That would mean the Houston Texans’ Aug. 29 tilt with the New Orleans Saints at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome would be nixed, and the first time the Texans laced them up would be for real on Sept. 10 versus the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.
As the old saying goes, “when they say it isn’t about the money, it’s about the money.” In this case, it’s been about the preseason games with little mention about the money. However, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reports the NFL and NFLPA have made strides in their discussions about the financial side of the 2020 season.
All this movement from the teams on the on-field stuff means there’s been lots of progress on the financials. Owners were willing to move on the preseason games if the players worked toward getting the money done. https://t.co/jR251yX2aL
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) July 20, 2020
The salary cap for the 2020 season was based on the revenues from the 2019 season. With each NFL team projected to lose $70 million, the 2021 salary cap could be greatly affected.
“That means that the salary cap next year could be something around $120 million, and that would mean a number of players could be cut,” NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said. “A lot of players who have salaries that would push a team above that salary cap would be forced to renegotiate, drastically renegotiate, their contracts or they would be cut. So, it goes back to option A.”
The “option B” is that the league and union, “try to work through estimates of what the decline would be and figure out a way to avoid a precipitous drop in the salary cap for next year,” according to Smith.
Said Smith: “And therefore protect contracts, protect players, but also remember protect their benefits because the way that the cap works and the way that our overall compensation package works is if there is a drop in those things, there could be or will be a significant impact on benefits as well.”
If the NFL and NFLPA can come to an agreement on the financials, pro football’s regular season could kickoff without a hitch, pandemic permitting.
