As Minneapolis hosts Super Bowl LII, on Tuesday, January 30, over 100 School of Kinesiology sport management students had the opportunity to listen to some of the top executives in the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA). Students from Dr. Jo Ann Buysse’s Sport in a Diverse Society class, Christopher Nettleton’s Sport Marketing class, and Ji Wu’s Sport Business class attended this event. Not only did they learn about the NFLPA, they also had the chance to ask questions about important social, medical, and business issues affecting the players in the NFL.

The National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) is the union for professional football players in the National Football League. Established in 1956, the NFLPA has a long history of assuring proper recognition and representation of players’ interests. The NFLPA has shown that it will do whatever is necessary to assure that the rights of players are protected—including ceasing to be a union, if necessary, as it did in 1989. In 1993, the NFLPA was again officially recognized as the union representing the players, and negotiated a landmark Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the NFL. The current CBA will govern the sport through 2020.

The NFLPA was represented by Carl Francis, Director of Communications, Don Davis, Sr., Director of Player Affairs, and Senior Advisor to the NFLPA Executive Director, and George Atallah, Assistant Executive Director of External Affairs.

Left to right: Ji Wu, Christopher Nettleton, Leo Lewis, Carl Francis, Jo Ann Buysse, Don Davis, George Atallah