Definitely interesting and like you said, can't imagine the NFLPA would sign off on that. So many guys, and likely some big names at that, would be on the streets at this point and I see no way they'll let that happen. I understand that money is down but can't tell teams a month before the season and after they've spent all of the money that they now have to find ways to get rid of it.
More greed from the owners. So worried about 1 year of losses like they haven't made hundreds of millions in previous years. So concerned with not spreading it out because it has no benefit for them. Obviously you can't be certain 2021 will be fine and fans will be in stadiums again, but I see no way that the NFLPA allows this for 2020.
The interesting part is that I'm not so certain it would require the NFLPA to ratify. I don't know the specifics of the CBA.
My understanding is that the current year salary cap is largely based on prior year revenues. There's no way the NFL can even get a vague clue of what 2020 NFL revenue is before the season happens, because they won't know what in-stadium sales are.
So the reality is... if the NFLPA doesn't agree to some sort of concession for 2020, the NFL is likely just going to make them play out 2021 with whatever the revenue is, which will probably be at least a 20-30% drop. So teams could reasonably expect the 2021 salary cap to decrease by upwards of $40-50M from this year.
I can see both sides of the equation, and honestly, I side slightly with the owners. Its sort of unreasonable to think that just because they're "more rich" that they should absorb all the losses at one time, while the players should only share in them over an extended period of time. If there was an unexpected spike in revenue, would the players be OK if the NFL spread that out over a longer period of time, instead of raising the salary cap the next year to reflect it? I seriously doubt it.
I've also stated this on other topics... I think the general public is extremely naive about the actual profitability of NFL, or even other Pro Sports franchises. NFL teams are rarely making $100M in profit in any given year. We already know 50% of their money is going to the players, and when you factor in stadium renovation and the hundreds or even thousands of employees they have to pay to make the show go, there's not nearly as much money left on the table as people think. Its not like these Owners are pocketing $500M every year.
The value in NFL franchises is literally in the valuation. Its in the ability to obtain assets, like stadiums, without having to pay for the entire thing. I pointed people to the ebbs and flows of the Packers, who provide their financials publicly.
https://www.si.com/nfl/packers/news/for-packers-a-huge-profit-and-uncharted-waters
One year they made $70M, the year before they made less than $1M.