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Leagues and Governing Bodies

Incumbent Smith Faces Eight Challengers On Ballot For NFLPA Exec Dir Position

NFLPA President Eric Winston announced Thursday night that eight candidates had qualified for the ballot to challenge NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith for the union’s top job. The list includes sports entrepreneur Rob London and NFLPA Senior Dir of Player Services & Development Jason Belser. They join already announced challengers Michigan-based attorney Jim Acho, former NFLers Sean Gilbert and Robert Griffith, former NFLPA counsel Arthur McAfee, former Navy Admiral and NFL P John Stufflebeem and sports and labor lawyer Andrew Smith. Belser initially was left off the ballot and Thursday evening told THE DAILY he was asking why he was not named as an official candidate. Winston tweeted out a list of challengers soon after the deadline to submit nominations, which was 11:59 p.m. Thursday. However, he later tweeted, "Correction: Jason Belser is on the ballot. Unfortunate email oversight by me on a crazy last day. My apologies to Jason" (Liz Mullen, Staff Writer). ESPN.com's Jim Trotter wrote the fact that an "unprecedented" eight challengers received the mandatory three nominations each to get on the ballot "can be construed two ways for the incumbent Smith." Either the player reps "want to hear alternative ideas as part of their due diligence, or they have concerns or doubts about Smith's ability to lead the union." Belser is "known to be popular with the players" and also is "an in-house candidate." That could be construed as a reflection that Smith, who was first elected in '09, "has cracks in his support base." It also is "in stark contrast to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who still has the public and unwavering support of the team owners despite the past year being the most controversial and embarrassing period of his tenure" (ESPN.com, 3/5).

PLATFORM DIVING: USA TODAY's Tom Pelissero writes the candidates' platforms "vary, but those gunning for Smith's job are united in the quest to capitalize on whatever dissension exists within union leadership -- and some are preparing to band together if that's what it takes to push Smith out." Stufflebeem said, "It would seem to me that I've got a choice (as a player representative). I've got De Smith and I stick with him for better or worse, or maybe I try to figure out are there one, two or even three of these guys who all together could be the new brain trust of our organization?" Acho said that he, Stufflebeem and Andrew Smith "have been working collaboratively and 'have agreed that the three of us are sort of going to stick together." Acho: "If I were to get in, I would bring them in and vice versa." Pelissero notes the election "has the makings of a gang approach against" De Smith, who in '12 "ran unopposed for a second term." Only Gilbert, "who began campaigning over a year ago, has openly stated he intends to seek termination of the CBA." Stufflebeem and Andrew Smith are "campaigning on, among other things, a commitment to restoring a close working relationship with the league" and Goodell (USATODAY.com, 3/6).

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