The NFL players have narrowly voted to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement which means labor peace through 2030. It also means that starting next season, each conference will have an additional playoff team and only the top seed will receive a bye. And a 17-game schedule is coming to the NFL as early as the 2021 season.

In an exchange for a 17-game regular season, players are getting a larger share of the revenue, minimum salaries will increase, the size of the practice squad increases and the league is softening its drug policy.

A new league year is set to begin on Wednesday and the legal tampering window begins today. The Saints have their fair share of big-name free agents, quarterbacks Teddy Bridgewater and Taysom Hill. Safety Vonn Bell, linebacker A-J Klein, guard Andrus Peat and cornerback Eli Apple.

Coach Sean Payton said he thought the start of the league should be pushed back, but the NFL is moving on as scheduled.

Sources have told ESPN that NBA owners and executives are bracing for the possibility of mid-to-late June as a best-case scenario for the league’s return. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends no events or gatherings should include more than 50 people for the next eight weeks. The league has reportedly told teams that games would return without fans, teams have been told to search out arena dates well into August.

The NCAA decided against releasing a bracket on selection Sunday. But ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi released one and he had LSU as an eight seed playing Oklahoma in Spokane on Thursday.

The LHSAA Boys Basketball Championships were completed over the weekend without fans. Alexandria won its first state title in boys basketball. Peabody won its ninth, the eighth for hall of fame coach Charles Smith. Bossier won the three-A title, North Central repeated as One-A champs, Doyline knocked off two-time defending Class B champs Simsboro.