NFL

UPDATE: Player representatives should be voting on the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement at of 11 am this morning in Washington DC. They don't expect problems with this resolution and everything should be moving smoothly from here with training camps starting at the end of this week.

Lets take a look into the new CBA for the NFL this year.
Some important changes that the players earned during this lockout and during all these negotiations.

1. Medical benefits: As of last season the players were only covered for five years after their NFL career, now they can chose to have NFL medical coverage for life.
Along with medical coverage they increased injury coverage for players.
2. If a player suffers a career ending injury there is a new formula in place where they will still get paid some of their contracted payment. If they have a four year contract and he is injured in the first year he will keep that year's salary and bonus then each following year less but still a portion of his guaranteed payment.
3. A confusing free agency agreement where players only have the period until Aug. 12 to sign with a new team, which gives them only a month before they play with their new team. This includes, drafting, trading, introducing the players to the new team and training and get them moved into that playbook.
4. More money for players- players will get 55 percent of TV network profits starting next year. I don't know how necessary this was, seeing how TV profits are going to increase in the next few years. But it was a new agreed upon point, so hopefully it works for the best.
5. Owners won some money as well in all these discussions being able to keep 60 % of all club generated money.
The details run far beyond these into what is allowed for practices- no more full contact two-a-days, drug testing procedures, retiree benefits, etc.

The players won a lot on the side of health and safety, with new practice regulations and health benefits.
Both sides won money from different places, players from tv deals, owners from club revenue.
We all won nothing except another quality year of American football.


-information from SI's Peter King's article, "Making sense of the new CBA and how it will affe
ct the game."

Let's get this STARTED!!!

Alright well it is time to get blogging!

As some of you know I leave for Madrid, Spain at the end of August and will be studying there until the beginning of December. I'm going there to finish my Spanish and Journalism degrees, however while I'm there I plan to really explore Europe and learn a lot about cultures that are quite foreign from my own. I cannot hold back my excitement on this hidden world that I will soon be able to explore. When I graduate I hope to find myself in a sports broadcasting career, however when I look into the options available, I feel I would enjoy many of the options I have in front of me.

However, I still have a month and a half at home in Colorado so until we get closer to departure this blog will be a little more focused around sports! This is because I am interning at Fox 31 in Denver in the sports department and I want to be writing about those experiences too! I work down at Fox Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I am editing and helping produce the half hour Saturday show: Double Coverage as well as the 15 minute Sunday Double Coverage. I work with Josina Anderson and Zubin Mehenti mostly and it has been a blast so far. Soon though, possibly within hours things are about to get even MORE exciting down there as the NFL lockout is about to end, if a few final pieces can be settled. This is a big deal for football but a great opportunity for me because Josina has a huge role in football coverage and to learn for her in the action will be an amazing experience! We should be covering training camp and stories like Tebow or Orton. This opportunity is like a DREAM to me! Loving every second of it and can't wait to bring everyone along with me!

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