NFLPA player reps this weekend in Hawaii will gather to vote on its next Exec Dir. The union members will either re-elect current Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith or replace him with one of eight challengers. Player reps and alternates representing the 32 clubs will begin meeting Saturday in Maui to hear presentations from Smith and all eight challengers. The challengers are Michigan-based attorney 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, former NFLer and Navy Admiral John Stufflebeem and attorney Andrew Smith. Candidates on Saturday will get about 40 minutes to present platforms to the player reps. Then, security/investigation firm Hillard Heintze will provide them with a report into the backgrounds of each. On Sunday, candidates will have the opportunity to meet with the player reps in smaller groups and will be able to give a concluding statement. Voting is expected to start early Sunday evening. Candidates must receive at least 17 of the 32 player rep votes to win. Whoever is elected will serve a three-year term (Liz Mullen, Staff Writer).
ORDER NEEDED: USA TODAY's Nancy Armour writes it is no wonder Commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL owners "have little fear of the players and their union," because to call this weekend's election a "fiasco or a farce is putting it politely." Of the eight candidates challenging Smith, most have "no business running for student council, let alone a job that will help determine where the NFL's billions go and what kind of shape players' brains and bodies will be in when they're done playing." Belser "did Machiavelli proud, filing his paperwork at the 11th hour after months of quiet politicking against his boss." It is clear the players are "using this election to express their unhappiness with Smith" and the CBA that was reached in '11. Even "allowing for the fact that a rep could nominate as many candidates as he wanted, a nine-person ballot is unprecedented." There are "legitimate reasons for players to be unhappy with Smith, or to think it's time for new direction;" however, "turning the election into a three-ring circus -- and making the NFLPA look amateurish in the process -- will only lead to chaos, not change" (USA TODAY, 3/13).
