The NFL wanted to get a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with its players finalized before the start of the league’s 100th season. It didn’t happen. The revised goal (and perhaps the real goal all along) is to get it done before the end of the league’s 100th season.

The media outlet owned and operated by the NFL reports that recent staff meetings between league and the NFL Players Association staff employees have yielded progress on secondary issues, but that major issues remain — and that no formal bargaining session has occurred since late August.

As explained in the article posted at NFL.com, “owners want to add regular-season games while preserving their share of revenue, and players want to increase their share of revenue without adding regular-season games.” As PFT has pointed out over the past few months, owners also want to expand the use of stadium credits, which reduces the total amount of money to be shared by management and labor.

Formal talks are expected to resume in October. The current labor deal expires after the 2020 season.

The league wants to finish the CBA so that it can pivot to the networks. The goal apparently is to launch the TV-rights talks by December. The fact that ratings have started strong in 2019 will create even greater motivation to finalize the broadcast extensions while the Nielsen iron is hot, especially since the 2020 ratings could drop during what could be a very heated presidential election.

The theory making the rounds since June is that the league ultimately would like to announce a new CBA and new TV deals during Super Bowl week in Miami, providing a perfect capper to the league’s 100th season. (Other than, you know, the Super Bowl itself.)

It’s quite possible that the league will have to negotiate both deals at the same time, aiming to land both planes simultaneously. That remains a very real challenge, because the players simply won’t accept more regular-season games (the current goal is 17) without a major financial concession.