ATLANTA -- NFL owners and the NFL Players Association extended their collective bargaining agreement through the year 2004 by deciding not to terminate the deal following the 2002 season.

Owners voted Wednesday to accept the minor changes in the agreement. Featured in the agreement is a new start to free agency. Instead of beginning the free agency period in the middle of February as in the past, both sides accepted a new league calendar in which free agency now will begin March 2, 2001.

Coaches and general managers have long wanted the later start to free agency because they had no break from year to year. Immediately following the Super Bowl and Pro Bowl, teams had to gear up to revamp their rosters. Players had contended that they didn't want less time on the free agent market, but most of the top players ended up being signed in the first weeks of free agency so it wasn't as much of a factor.

"We are working to extend it even more into the future," Steelers owner Dan Rooney said of the new agreement. "You never know what's going to happen in those negotiations. I would like to see us get a system so that the big money is spread out more throughout the team than just the stars. Every team has stars and they have to be paid. We are a team game and the offensive linemen deserve to be considered in that light."

Had the owners and the union decided not to do anything past December, the collective bargaining agreement would have terminated in 2003, which would have been an uncapped year. Now, the salary cap stays in place through 2003, with 2004 being the uncapped year. The draft for college players now is preserved through 2005.

Negotiations will continue with hopes of adding two more years to the agreement by as early as next March.

"I don't see a lot of changes because changes become a true negotiation," Bucs general manager Rich McKay said. "When you start using the word extension like it is being used now, then I don't see a lot of major changes. I see a lot of tweaking going on, whether it's salary cap circumvention rules that need to be changed or some other things."

McKay would like to see adjustment in the rookie draft pool because of the huge contracts being given to the top choices in the first round. Some of those contracts go into the $50 million-plus range because of the escalation clauses.

"The rookie situation has always been the one that has bothered me the most," McKay said. "We were always a team that wasn't very good and had to draft in the top 10 for so many years. As a result of that we were always trapped in getting that one player and paying that one player a lot of money. In reality, that is not a very good system."

Upshaw and the union would like to see the league adjust or eliminate the franchise designation. When the salary cap started in 1993, the franchise and transition tags were supposed to be use to prevent elite players such as quarterbacks and top running backs from leaving without the team having a chance of negotiating a deal. Since then, teams wave the franchise tag annually over virtually every unsigned starter with hopes of enticing him into a deal.

Along with awarding three Super Bowls -- Houston in 2004, Jacksonville in 2005 and Detroit in 2006 -- the owners approved a new stocking plan for NFL Europe. Each team now will commit a minimum of six players annually to the spring league.

A system also was approved to reward teams that contribute offensive or defensive linemen or quarterbacks to the league. Under the new plan, teams will receive six roster exemptions for training camp, allowing them to bring 86 players to camp. If they provide a lineman or quarterback, they would receive bonus exemptions up to 12.

John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.