New NFL Players Association executive director Lloyd Howell hasn’t picked many fights with the NFL. He’s sort of picking one with the media.
As explained by Mark Maske of the Washington Post, Howell wants to restrict media access to the locker room.
“What I was hoping to achieve on behalf of the membership is . . . to accurately articulate how they feel,” Howell told the Post during a recent interview. “And they do not want to be interviewed when they’re naked. [And] to open the door for doing some solutioning of what could be more effective.”
The union has discussed the issue with the NFL and the Pro Football Writers of America. Howell insists that the NFLPA doesn’t want to keep reporters from doing their jobs — which consists of giving plenty of free publicity for the NFL (which is why the league mandates access).
“I’ve heard and I’ve seen all the reasons why the media is hesitant or resistant to changing it: [Players] duck out of the back. They don’t want to do the interview. The list goes on and on,” Howell said. “But there are other ways to kind of address those challenges, too. . . . The desire isn’t in any way to prevent [reporters from having access to players]. The desire is, ‘Let me be decent.’ ”
Maske notes that the NFL’s 2024 media policy has been set and distributed. Any changes likely wouldn’t happen until 2025.
“We want to respect the players’ privacy to get dressed,” PFWA president Calvin Watkins told Maske. “I don’t think any reporter wants to talk to a butt-naked player. However, there are already rules in place for the player to have privacy before doing the interview. We have reiterated that to the union.”
The NFLPA has suggested having players and reporters interact in a separate zone, and about extending the 10-to-15-minute waiting period before locker rooms are open.
“It’s a challenge to the model where the model is, ‘I want to be in the dressing room with individuals that are in varying degrees of undress with a microphone and a camera because I’m going to be able to do my job most effectively,’” Howell said. “And where the players are is, ‘I definitely want to engage with the media. But I’d like to have the opportunity to be decent. I’d like to be dressed. I’d like to, you know, get my thoughts together and then conduct the interview.’”
Initially, the union wanted the NFL to close locker rooms to the media entirely. The league rejected that idea.
As the NFL tries to get 18 games, this could be something the union could request again. Since it costs the league nothing, maybe the league would do it.
Plenty of fans who normally side with teams in fights against players will be inclined to side with players in this fight against the media, not realizing that restricting access will make it harder for fans to get the kind of rich, deep, and detailed reporting that comes from reporters having full and fair locker-room access.
