Menu
Leagues and Governing Bodies

NFLPA's DeMaurice Smith Defends Strength Of His Union When Compared To MLBPA

NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith on Wednesday addressed the perception that his organization is not as strong as the MLBPA during a conversation with ESPN's Dan Le Batard. Asked how he responds when NFL players ask him why the MLBPA is "so much stronger than our union," Smith said, "I ask them why do they think so." He said, "You look at where we came from at the beginning of this lockout in 2009, and [the] facts are clear: the league wanted us to play 18 games, they wanted to take away the players' defined benefit plan, they wanted a strict rookie wage scale. Those three things were things that the league had prepared for for years. When we got through the lockout, we ended up with a larger share of revenue than we’ve ever had in the history of the National Football League. We certainly aren’t playing 18 games and every one of our players kept their pensions.” Smith said the “best part of this job is you get to know the young men behind the helmet." Smith: "While I may not rise and fall on how a game ends, the great part of this job is really knowing the young men as family men, good husbands, good sons, good brothers, and that part’s cool” (“Dan Le Batard Is Highly Questionable,” ESPN2, 2/13).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2013/02/15/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/NFLPA.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2013/02/15/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/NFLPA.aspx

CLOSE