The NFL Players Association has started a new tradition. Some in the NFL understandably don't like it.
Of course not. The NFLPA has found a way to harness the collective voice of players. And it gives teams and owners something that many people don't like.
Accountability.
As we said on PFT Live on Thursday, owners and team leaders can respond to poor grades in one of two general ways. First, they can take the feedback to heart and promise to make changes. Second, they may dismiss it, ignore it, and/or try to undermine it.
Unsurprisingly, some do the latter – without giving their name.
Via Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal, some executives are “asking questions about the survey and wondering how useful it really is.” They also believe the main variable for most categories is “facility age,” with teams that build a new building being rewarded with a better grade.
According to Fischer, some unnamed executives “also wonder how many respondents have enough context to assess their own team, whether the factual claims made by respondents are actually confirmed, or what other factors might influence their perceptions.” They also point out noted that there was “little apparent correlation between results and on-field performance.”
This is all part of an effort to deny, distract and dispute players' undeniable feedback. Although Fischer doesn't portray it that way, it also appears as if the NFL combed through the collective bargaining agreement to see if the union had the right to conduct the survey.
A pity. Players have found a way to actually wield power and influence. And it is well received by the media and fans. Of course, owners who can't be fired are unhappy about someone telling the world that they aren't as good as their team's success on the field suggests.
Instead of taking the criticism to heart and trying to make players feel better about the various categories addressed in the survey, some will predictably try to come up with something to make players think players are doing something wrong made.
Even if they did it right.
So pay no attention to the men behind the curtain. The players spoke with loud, clear voices for the second year in a row. Because there is no mechanism to understand how teams and owners treat players, aside from input from the players themselves, these grades continue to be stored in the permanent records of the various franchises and the people who run them, without having to worry about ever being replaced.