NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement

The NFL collective bargaining agreement set to expire March 2011, both the NFL Players Association and the league have been in negotiations. Though there are plenty of issues at stake, two are causing contentious negotiations: season expansion and HGH testing.

NFL CBA and Season Expansion

Roger Goodell and other NFL top brass want to expand the season from 16 games to 18 games. To do this, they are proposing to cut the preseason by two games, thus not extending the total months of the season. The NFLPA's stand is that players pay and compensation will have to be adjusted because of the extra season games. Also the manner in which roster are formed will have to as well. It is hard for me to believe the two sides can be too far from this since they both will profit by more regular season games. It sounds like logistic more than anything.

NFL HGH Testing

The NFLPA has long since contested any HGH testing because you must draw blood for the test. They call this a violation of personal privacy. Except for the manner in which they are collected, I am not sure what the difference between bodily fluids such as urine and blood that separates the two from a privacy issue. The player's association seemed to find a new argument recently; HGH testing isn't reliable. This stance is because the player must have taken the drug within 48 hours to be detected in the blood. I don't see the issue since there are many drugs that can only be detected in the urine for 48 hours as well.