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Source: NFLPA rule could bar DeMaurice Smith challengers
Aug
28
8/28/2017 9:14:03 AM
NFL player representatives are scheduled to vote by mid-October on whether to retain DeMaurice Smith as the union’s executive director and bar other candidates from challenging him for the job, under a new set of election procedures not previously disclosed publicly, Mark Maske of the Washington Post reports.
The voting rules, outlined in a set of documents obtained by The Washington Post, establish what amounts to a referendum this fall on Smith retaining the job he has held since 2009. The procedures put the decision of whether to sign Smith to a contract extension in the hands of a 14-member selection committee and the board of team-by-team player representatives. If those players opt to keep Smith, the union would not consider other candidates for the executive director job.
The union’s previous procedure for electing an executive director placed few restrictions on candidates entering the race, allowing for the possibility of a crowded field of challengers heading into a March vote.
The players’ vote on Smith is to take place by Oct. 15, under the new election procedures. Smith’s current three-year term is to end in March.
Attorney Cyrus Mehri, who was instrumental in the NFL’s adoption of its minority interviewing rule in the hiring processes for coaches and key front office executives, has announced his intention to challenge Smith for the executive director job.
Mehri was critical of the new voting procedures, saying he views them as an attempt to keep the current leadership structure in place.
“De Smith has given the vast majority of NFL players and the public at large the false impression that the election is in March of 2018,” Mehri said, using Smith’s popular nickname. “Meanwhile, he devised a scheme with a virtually secret and unobtainable constitution to prevent any election at all.”
At least one other candidate, a former NFL player, had planned to challenge Smith in March. But the former player’s candidacy is uncertain now because of the new election procedures, according to multiple people familiar with the deliberations.
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Aug
28
8/28/2017 9:14:03 AM
NFL player representatives are scheduled to vote by mid-October on whether to retain DeMaurice Smith as the union’s executive director and bar other candidates from challenging him for the job, under a new set of election procedures not previously disclosed publicly, Mark Maske of the Washington Post reports.
The voting rules, outlined in a set of documents obtained by The Washington Post, establish what amounts to a referendum this fall on Smith retaining the job he has held since 2009. The procedures put the decision of whether to sign Smith to a contract extension in the hands of a 14-member selection committee and the board of team-by-team player representatives. If those players opt to keep Smith, the union would not consider other candidates for the executive director job.
The union’s previous procedure for electing an executive director placed few restrictions on candidates entering the race, allowing for the possibility of a crowded field of challengers heading into a March vote.
The players’ vote on Smith is to take place by Oct. 15, under the new election procedures. Smith’s current three-year term is to end in March.
Attorney Cyrus Mehri, who was instrumental in the NFL’s adoption of its minority interviewing rule in the hiring processes for coaches and key front office executives, has announced his intention to challenge Smith for the executive director job.
Mehri was critical of the new voting procedures, saying he views them as an attempt to keep the current leadership structure in place.
“De Smith has given the vast majority of NFL players and the public at large the false impression that the election is in March of 2018,” Mehri said, using Smith’s popular nickname. “Meanwhile, he devised a scheme with a virtually secret and unobtainable constitution to prevent any election at all.”
At least one other candidate, a former NFL player, had planned to challenge Smith in March. But the former player’s candidacy is uncertain now because of the new election procedures, according to multiple people familiar with the deliberations.
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