The NFL Players Association have taken the deal.
“NFL players have voted to approve ratification of a new collective bargaining agreement by a vote tally of 1,019 to 959,” the union announced 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.”
The numbers (if my math is correct, and that’s a big if) translate to 1,978 votes, with 51.5 percent voting yes and 48.5 percent voting no. And with roughly 2,500 dues-paying members of the union, the vote generated a turnout (although no one had to actually go anywhere) of 79.12 percent.
It’s amazing that the percentage wasn’t higher, given the stakes and the controversy. Which shows that plenty of players simply weren’t (and still aren’t) paying attention.
The good news (if there can be any at this time) is that we can all stop paying attention to labor issues, with a caveat to be explained in a subsequent post.