As NFL players vote on a new CBA, the NFL Players Association will be voting for a new president. And it creates a strange timeline for the union.
Voting is scheduled on a new president for Tuesday. The CBA vote remains open until Thursday night. Doesn’t it make sense to pick a president after knowing what the outcome of the CBA vote will be?
If the players ratify the new CBA, they need moving forward a president who wanted the new CBA. If the players don’t ratify the new CBA, they need moving forward a president who didn’t want the new CBA. If they name a president who supports the new CBA and then the new CBA fails, that could get awkward. If they name a president who opposes the new CBA and the new CBA passes, that could get even more awkward.
There’s already talk, for example, that if new CBA opponent Russell Okung wins the election, he may try to halt the vote. Even if he doesn’t halt the vote and if the vote passes, having a president at the dawn of a new CBA who doesn’t want the new CBA will lay the foundation for chaos and acrimony and contentiousness and lots of other potential problems.
Presumably, the NFLPA has some flexibility when it comes to the rules. And it would make sense to flex the vote on a new NFLPA president until Friday at the earliest, so that the board of player representatives can vote for a new president knowing whether or not there will be a new CBA.