The NFL wins its grievance against the players’ union and bans the annual “team bulletins.”

This is a real earthquake in American football labor relations.

An arbitrator has just ruled that the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) violated the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) by publishing its famous “team evaluation reports.” As a result, the union has been formally ordered to cease all future posting of these documents, which ranked franchises according to various quality-of-life criteria.

The league was quick to express its satisfaction through its spokesperson, Brian McCarthy. According to the NFL, these reports were based on opaque methodologies that the union refused to disclose. The league maintains that these reports served more to denigrate clubs than to provide an accurate picture of reality. However, the NFL reiterates its desire to work with the NFLPA to design a scientifically valid and independent survey, as stipulated in the initial agreement between the parties.

In a memo sent to all 32 teams, the league's lawyers revealed troubling details about what went on behind the scenes with these reports. During the hearings, it was admitted that the union “cherry-picked” the topics and players' responses. Even more striking: the players reportedly had no role in drafting the comments, with the union itself choosing which anonymous quotes to include in order to influence the letter grades.

Towards a new method of medical and structural evaluation

However, the arbitrator clarified that the union's conduct of an independent survey does not necessarily violate the obligation to conduct a joint investigation into the quality of medical care. The NFL Management Council will therefore continue to work with the NFLPA to develop a new tool for gathering feedback in future seasons.

The league's stated goal is to ensure that athlete feedback on the adequacy of healthcare and facilities is collected accurately and reliably, without being turned into a tool for unilateral union communication. For fans and players, this marks the end of an era of media transparency, but perhaps the beginning of a profound restructuring of how internal criticism is handled within the world's most powerful sports league.

This content was created with the help of AI.