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Leagues and Governing Bodies

Still In The Game: DeMaurice Smith Re-Elected As NFLPA Exec Dir On First Ballot

NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith was re-elected to a three-year term on the first ballot in Maui late last night. Smith in a statement after the vote said, “I am proud to represent the best athletes in the world." The vote came at about 6:45pm local time, after midnight on the East Coast. Smith was re-elected after 81 NFLPA leaders -- including team player reps, alternates and Exec Committee members -- spent two full days considering eight challengers for the job. The challengers were lawyer Jim Acho, NFLPA Senior Dir of Player Services & Development Jason Belser, former NFLers Sean Gilbert and Robert Griffith, entrepreneur Rob London, former NFLPA counsel Arthur McAfee, attorney Andrew Smith, and retired Navy officer and former NFLer John Stufflebeem. With so many challengers, there was speculation that there could be a run-off. However, the player reps emerged from the voting room about 15 minutes after they began (Liz Mullen, Staff Writer). USA TODAY's Tom Pelissero reports each candidate "was given 40 minutes to present to players during a marathon session on Saturday." Most of the candidates were then "asked back for smaller group sessions Sunday and made closing arguments before the vote in the evening." While the union did not release the vote totals, Smith "received at least 16 of 31 votes." The Bills "didn't have a voting representative present" (USATODAY.com, 3/16).

NO REAL CHALLENGERS: THE MMQB's Peter King writes it "seems amazing that Smith was elected unanimously on the first ballot, seeing that he had eight challengers in an impassioned run-up to the vote." Smith was "vulnerable in this election, for many reasons," including the "impression that he did a bad deal with the 2011 CBA and his consistently contentious relationship with the league." However, none of the other candidates "could muster" the required votes from the player reps. NFLPA Exec Committee member Ryan Clark, who retired as an active NFLer earlier this offseason, said, “In the end, we felt strongly that De was the best candidate for the next three years. But there was a process to get there. It wasn’t his at the beginning of the weekend. We had 12 new reps here that he had to win over. But he did, and we feel like we’re in a good place” (MMQB.SI.com, 3/16). The AP's Barry Wilner writes the vote to retain Smith could be "considered a referendum on the status quo" (AP, 3/16).

LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE: PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Mike Florio notes Smith will next be up for re-election in '18, and that "will be a critical decision for the union," as the current CBA expires following the '20 season. If the contract is "going to be extended before a possible work stoppage" in '21, the person running the union from in the three years commencing in March '18 "will have a strong influence over the negotiations." It would be "prudent for the NFLPA to take a serious look at revising election procedures that allow any player representative to nominate as many challengers as he wants" before that time. A better approach is "needed to narrow the field before the challengers compete for the job." Florio: "All of a sudden, the union that rarely sees an incumbent director face a challenge has seen a challenge so convoluted and crowded that it surely became difficult for the men speaking for all pro football players to keep a baseball lineup of options straight" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 3/16).

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