The NFL Players Association has created a political action committee, a first for the labor group and the only one among the major U.S. sports unions.
The move comes as the NFL more than ever is immersed in issues before Congress and as the NFLPA and league are in the very early stages of preparing for the next round of collective-bargaining agreement talks. The current CBA expires in March 2021.
According to a filing made last month with the Federal Election Commission, the PAC is named National Football League Players Association One Team PAC, and it lists Charles Ross, the NFLPA’s director of finance and asset management, as the main contact.
George Atallah, NFLPA assistant executive director, confirmed that the union had started its first PAC but declined to comment further.
PAC Facts
■ Defined as an organization intended to raise money to influence elections or legislation.
■ Can give $5,000 to a candidate per election. PACs also can give up to $15,000 annually to any national party committee and $5,000 annually to any other PAC.
■ May receive up to $5,000 from any one individual.
■ Unions, trade associations (which the NFL is considered) and corporations cannot donate to campaigns, but they can contribute to and through PACs.
Source: Federal Election Commission
In 2011, on the verge of what would become a 4 1/2-month lockout of NFL players, USA Today asked Atallah about the union’s efforts in Washington, D.C. At that time, he replied, “We don’t have a PAC, and we don’t need a PAC.” He added, “Our PAC is our players. The same way we try to directly engage with fans, we’re trying to engage with members of Congress.”
Mathew Littman, a Los Angeles-based government affairs consultant, said the union is wise to have started a PAC, signaling a possible new strategy for how the group lobbies Congress. A PAC enables political access through donations, he said.
“Bringing in a celebrity, bringing in a George Clooney, may allow you to get heard, but you won’t be taken seriously,” Littman said. “This means they want the same access as the NFL and want to state their case like the NFL.”
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Hearings on head injuries have brought NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith to Congress.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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The NFL formed its PAC, named Gridiron, in 2008, and has since raised $3.5 million and spent nearly $3 million, according to OpenSecrets.org, a division of the Center for Responsive Politics.
A PAC bundles contributions and can contribute to individual candidates, something unions, trade associations and companies cannot.
The three other major sports unions do not have PACs. Among the leagues, MLB has a PAC, but the NBA and NHL do not. MLB formed its PAC in 2001.
The NFLPA 25 years ago strongly considered forming a PAC, said Doug Allen, a former top executive of the labor group.
“Ed Garvey, who hired me [in 1982], particularly wanted to take that step, but Gene Upshaw, when he got the executive director job [in 1983], realized it would be a double-edged sword, especially since many NFLPA members were then very conservative socially, including those who were evangelical Christians,” said Allen, who now works as professor of practice and labor education coordinator at The Labor School at Penn State. “We would have divided the membership politically by formally endorsing and helping to fund politicians who were pro-labor and pro-player but were socially progressive rather than conservative.”
Upshaw died in 2008. Current NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith began in that position the following year.
Players’ attitudes are not as conservative today, Allen said, so the issue of who is getting the donations should not be as pronounced as previously.
“Campaigns are exponentially more expensive today,” Allen added, “and money matters even more in politics than it did decades ago, unfortunately.”
The NFL’s approach to concussions and research has been a critical topic on Capitol Hill in recent years. Issues such as drug testing, domestic violence and stadium subsidies have been subjects of congressional hearings involving the NFL and the players union, as well.
