On December 2nd, Lawrence P. Ferazani Jr., Deputy General Counsel of Labor of the NFL, and Tom DePaso, General Counsel of the NFL Players Association, signed an amendment to Article 46 and Appendix U of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). This Article encompasses on-field fines, including the appeal process, the topic of this amendment. The parties involved disputed the current interpretation of language within the CBA and focused on rewriting certain sections that caused disagreement.
The amended sections with minor modifications in wording included:
Section 1(d) League Discipline
- The amendment adds that both offenses not included in Appendix U and all player suspensions for on-field conduct can be appealed by a player who disagrees with the fine amount issued.
Section 2(g) Hearing
- Section (g) was added to provide additional details on the schedule for appeal hearings under Section 1(b)
Appendix U Aggravating/Mitigating Factors
- The word contact was added as an alternative interpretation for conduct under the Mitigating and Aggravating Factors definitions
The Amended version greatly expands on the requirements for aggravating violations, the amount the fine will be, and how to determine if aggravating fines have reset or if they continue to add up for a certain player.
No fine amounts were changed after the amendment, as the parties focused on solely clarifying specific wording presented in Article 46.