At the NFL spring meeting in Atlanta, NFL owners unanimously decided not to extend the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the NFL Players Association through the 2012 season. The current extension, agreed upon in 2006, will run through the 2010 season as the league and NFLPA continue to work together toward a new agreement. The league emphasized in a statement that NFL football will be **"played without threat of interruption for at least the next three seasons."**
The league also said that the "2008 and 2009 seasons will be played with a salary cap, and if there is no new agreement before the 2010 season, that season will be played without a salary cap under rules that also limit the free agency rights of the players. If not extended, the agreement would expire at the end of the 2010 league year... We are resolved to do our best to achieve a fair agreement that will allow labor peace to continue through and beyond the 2011 season."
Later in the day, the league is expected to announce the winner of the bid to host Super Bowl XLVI in 2012. Houston, which impressed observers around the league when it hosted Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004 in superb fashion, is competing with Indianapolis and Arizona for the bid. Indianapolis has never hosted a Super Bowl and is opening a new stadium this season, while Arizona hosted Super Bowl XLII earlier this year.
- Nick Scurfield
