NFL Struggling to Reach Last-Minute Agreement to Save Season

The deadline to reach a new collective bargaining agreement has been extended to midnight Friday.

Football fans are facing the grim prospect of a year without their favourite Sunday ritual if the NFL and the players’ union can’t come to an agreement today. Players and league executives are at odds over how much league revenues team owners deserve, benefits to retired players, and executives’ proposal to expand the regular season from 16 to 18 games. The current collective bargaining agreement was set to expire at midnight Thursday but negotiators reached agreed to push that deadline back one day. Friday both sides will return to the bargaining table but only to determine whether to extend the deadline further or admit negotiations have failed. The NFL is more popular than ever, and generated $9 billion last year.