-
Kevin Seifert
The United Football Players Association has ratified a new collective bargaining agreement with the United Football League, ending nearly six months of negotiations, according to union officials.
The deal, which is pending final approval from the UFL, is retroactive to the start of training camp, which opened March 2, and will extend through the end of the 2026 season.
The new CBA includes an annual raise of $7,005 on the players’ minimum salary, from $55,000 to $62,005 for players who participate in all 10 regular-season games, and makes all players eligible for year-round health care, according to a fact sheet produced by the UFPA. The minimum salary for 2026 will be $64,000.
“I think this is a reflection of the fact that the UFL and the UFPA ultimately wanted to come together to reach a sustainable deal that will ensure that spring football will be here to stay,” said Harry Marino, president of Sports Solidarity and the UFPA’s lead negotiator for the CBA. “And as hard-fought as the negotiation was, I think this is turning the page and saying, ‘OK, now we’re going to work in partnership to make sure this thing lasts and succeeds.'”
The UFL did not immediately comment on the agreement.
Labor certainty should lead to more continuity among the player pool, Michigan Panthers quarterback Danny Etling said.
“It’s good not only for the league investors, but just for the league in general to give it some stability,” Etling said. “So then we’re not in a negotiation next year trying to do the same thing, having this go into the season, but also just for the players having the ability to have some consistency there, for players planning with their families and trying to get guys to return for multiple seasons.”
Players began voicing concerns about the direction of the talks before training camp, when 24 quarterbacks signed a letter that expressed their disappointment and announced they would skip a league-organized quarterback camp in February. Some players felt threatened during the first week of training camp when coaches informed them that they could be released if they followed through on discussions to boycott the league’s media days, three players confirmed to ESPN in March.
The league clarified there would be discipline but no job loss if a boycott occurred, and all requested players made appearances. But former Memphis Showboats quarterback Quinten Dormady was released a day later, and he told ESPN that he believed his leadership role in the union was “a driving factor.” In response, the league said in part that “any player transactions are purely the result of football decisions at the team level and have nothing to do with collective bargaining negotiations.”
The UFPA filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, but that is likely to be withdrawn.
The sides remained in contact throughout, and ultimately the league agreed both to the salary hike and a health care formula that gives players seven months of insurance followed by subsidized COBRA for the other five months. In 2024, players were insured only during the four-month UFL season.
One benefit of the health care agreement, players told ESPN, is opening a path for players who were no longer eligible to remain on their parents’ insurance after the age of 26.
“A lot of guys have started to realize sometimes it takes maybe a year, two years, three years in spring football to hopefully get back to the NFL,” said St. Louis Battlehawks punter Sterling Hofrichter, who is 28. “So just having that ability to have that year-round healthcare for people, the extra wages, I think it really does help bridge the gap that people were having before.”
This post was originally published on this site