What does the new CBA mean for the LA Rams in 2020?

More games = more money

First of all, the NFL’s agreement was intended to package more events before entering into negotiations for televised rights, so the most controversial pieces are the pieces we’ll focus on initially.  One immediate effect is the NFL Playoff picture.  The new NFL CBA expands the NFL playoff teams from 12 to 14 teams.  That creates a new “bracket” for playoff teams and eliminates one team from a bye week.

The top-ranked team will keep their bye week, but the second-ranked team will now host the seventh-ranked team.  As before, the third-ranked team will host the sixth-ranked team. and the fourth-ranked team will host the fifth-ranked team.

The net effect of the new configuration is to add a playoff game to the first NFL playoff weekend. Had this been in effect in 2019, the LA Rams would have been in the playoffs. C’est la vie!

The more controversial term for the NFL and the biggest challenge to the NFL players is the introduction of the 17th regular-season game. While that is one of the key elements to significantly higher revenue for the NFL teams and players alike, it will not kick in until 2021. Why is the NFL adding games to the regular season as well as the playoffs?

Well, more games give the NFL a much better advantage in terms of negotiations with televised broadcast contracts. Even if networks balk at paying more per game (they won’t), the NFL has the fact that football will package more games. Just by adding one more regular-season game, the NFL adds over 6 percent to the revenue base. The addition of one more playoff game improves postseason by 20 percent.