TORONTO — The CFL and its players’ association have reached a tentative deal on a new collective bargaining agreement, avoiding a potential lockout this season.
The deal still needs to be ratified by the players and the league’s board of governors.
The current deal expires at the end of the month. With negotiations not going well, there had been talk in the off-season of a possible lockout.
According to a statement from the CFL on Wednesday, the new agreement includes a drug testing policy but no details will be released until the deal is ratified.
No other details from the agreement were released in the statement.
“By agreement of the parties, there will be no further comment on any of the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement until the ratification process is complete,” the statement said.
The ratification vote will take place prior to the start of the 2010 season on July 1.
Training camps open early next week.
Labour issues are rare in the CFL. In years when the two sides couldn’t get a deal done before the expiration of the previous one, they’ve operated under the terms of the old CBA until a new one was reached.
Keeping games on the field is of vital importance for the league, given its teams draw a big chunk of their operating revenue from ticket sales.
Two of the more contentious issues on the bargaining table were daily work hours and reducing the number of Canadian-born players teams must start.