NFLPA declines to address gambling policy during press conference introducing Lloyd Howell
NFL Players Association president JC Tretter and incoming executive director Lloyd Howell met with reporters on Wednesday, in the hours following Howell’s appointment as the union’s new leader. During the session, a question was asked about the hottest current topic as it relates to player discipline — the gambling policy.
Kalyn Kahler of TheAthletic.com, referencing the news of more suspensions to come this week, asked Tretter about the actions taken or actions planned to be taken to defend players, given that gambling has become a “recurring problem.”
“I think we can circle back on that,” Tretter said. “I really want to keep the focus on Lloyd and in hour three of [him being] on the job we’ll push that to another time. I want to really focus on the excitement of choosing the next [executive director] and keep the conversation there.”
That was, in our view, a missed opportunity by Tretter to say something/anything regarding the union’s commitment to protect players when it comes to the league’s gambling policy. However, there’s not much the union can do. It has conceded from the get-go that the policy falls within the inherent rights of management, which possibly has contributed to the union’s failure to directly participate in the education and training of players regarding the things they can do, the things they can’t do, and the potential punishment for doing things they can’t do.
In April, after several players were suspended in one fell swoop, the union’s response was to communicate not with the players but with agents , a gesture that seemingly foisted onto them responsibility for ensuring the players don’t get themselves suspended.
Everyone with a vested interest in ensuring that the best players are available to play in as many games as possible should care about ensuring that players know the rules, and that players follow the rules. The league, the teams, the unions, the agents, the players, everyone. And the union should be at the front of the line when it comes to defending the players against such suspensions, always at the ready with a sound bite reiterating that commitment.
Frankly, Wednesday’s press conference would have been a perfect opportunity for Tretter to say something about the union’s position on one of the most important issues currently confronting the game. And it could have been said in roughly the same amount of time that it took him to say, “I think we can circle back on that. I really want to keep the focus on Lloyd and in hour three of [him being] on the job we’ll push that to another time. I want to really focus on the excitement of choosing the next [executive director] and keep the conversation there.”
Source: NBC Sports
