The NFL made waves on Friday by announcing that it had won a battle to censor the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) from publicly releasing the results of its annual player report cards. But while the public won't be seeing the results anymore, the NFLPA intends to keep the program alive regardless.
On Friday afternoon, the NFLPA responded to the ruling by an arbitrator by declaring that they will still continue moving forward with the Team Report Cards. The organization stated that the ruling allows them to keep collecting the information even if they can't share it.
"An arbitrator has issued a ruling on the NFL's challenge to the NFLPA's Team Report Cards. The program is not going away," the NFLPA said in a statement. "The ruling upholds our right to survey players and share the results with players and clubs. While we strongly disagree with the restriction on making those results public, that limitation does not stop the program or its impact. Players will continue to receive the results, and teams will continue to hear directly from their locker rooms.
"Importantly, the arbitrator rejected the NFL's characterization of the process, finding the Team Report Cards to be fair, balanced, and increasingly positive over time. Our methodology is sound.
"The Team Report Cards exist to serve players. That mission remains unchanged. We will continue working to ensure players' experiences are heard, respected, and acted on - by their teams, by their union, and wherever else possible."
Report Cards
That doesn't solve the problem though as players being able to express themselves privately is a very different experience than the voting (and spending) public getting able to express themselves towards the owners out in the open.
It's no surprise that the effort to eliminate the public report cards was allegedly spearheaded by the owners who consistently graded the worst on them.
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But the fact of the matter is that the NFLPA gave up considerable leverage at the altar of maximizing money for the players. They could try to take the ruling up to the actual courts rather than an arbitrator or they could simply wait until the next round of CBA negotiations.
In either case, we may not learn what the players really think about their bosses for long while.