If the NFL insists on playing through the coronavirus epidemic, there’s no guarantee that players will agree to do it.
When professional football players perform physical feats that make them seem almost superhuman, the tendency can be to see them as almost… less than human in the sense that we apply impossible recovery times to injuries, we ignore the dangers of repeated head trauma, and we can be more concerned with a player’s return to the field than his actual regenerative powers. It’s part of the job, and it hasn’t been helped at all by the NFL’s cavalier attitudes about player health and safety over the years.
That said, we are entering an entirely new era of health, safety, and potential liability in an era that will inevitably be tied to a coronavirus epidemic that doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon.
(Of course, it would help if everybody wore a mask, but I digress).
NFLPA president and Cleveland Browns center J.C. Tretter is cognizant of these concerns. It’s part of his job to listen to the player population, talk with the rest of the NFLPA, and interface with the league about what the players are thinking. The NFL is progressing with a plan that will have training camps starting on time and at least the regular season starting on time, but the 2020 Hall of Fame Game has already been cancelled and the 2020 induction ceremonies postponed to 2021, so we don’t really know what that looks like.
“The role of our union to advocate for and protect players is especially important as we figure out how to fit football into this world of coronavirus,” Tretter recently wrote on the NFLPA”s website. “For both rookies who are eager to make an impression and veterans who are hungry to come back, we have to be patient with the process so that we can make sure you and your families receive every necessary protection.
“Any time there is uncertainty, a tough issue or even when we are at odds with the NFL, a few common narratives arise from the media and public. Professional athletes in every sport have to regularly fend off criticism that our profession should be considered less of a job and that we shouldn’t fight for protections and benefits. As we begin our fight for necessary COVID-19 protections, these recycled misconceptions will be used to undermine the strength of our union and the legitimacy of your career.”
Tretter then addressed some of the things fans might say (indeed, some of the things he may have already heard from fans), such as, “Playing in the NFL is a privilege, not a right.”
“It’s neither,” he wrote. “It’s your job. It is a highly sought-after job and a childhood dream, but it is a job, nonetheless. You worked your ass off to earn this job, and you have to continue to work your ass off to keep it. Do not allow anyone to undermine the work you put in day after day to earn a spot in this profession. The attempt to frame your occupation as a “privilege” is a way to make you feel like you should be happy with whatever you get versus exercising your right to fight for more protections and benefits.”
“Just go play! You’re young and healthy. You will all be fine. We need sports back,” will undoubtedly be a common refrain.
Tretter’s response:
We are not invincible, and as recent reports have shown, we certainly aren’t immune to this virus. Underlying conditions like high BMI, asthma and sleep apnea are all associated with a higher risk of developing severe symptoms and complications when infected with COVID-19. Those conditions are widespread across the league. NFL players are humans — some with immuno-compromised family members or live-in elderly parents. Trust me: we want to play football. But as a union, our most important job is keep our players safe and alive. The NFLPA will fight for our most at-risk players and their families.
“I had to go back to work. You should have to go back, too,” is something else NFL players might be hearing.
Tretter’s response:
It is the responsibility of the employer to provide a safe work environment. I encourage all workers to hold their employers accountable to high standards. More so than any other sport, the game of football is the perfect storm for virus transmission. There are protections, both short and long term, that must be agreed upon before we can safely return to work. The NFLPA will be diligent as we demand that the NFL provide us the safest workplace possible.
I do not believe conversations about returning to work should be a race to the lowest common denominator among employees across different professions in different industries. We are all workers fighting for the same things: better pay, better benefits and better work rules. Our individual workplaces may be different, but we should support our fellow workers in pursuing gains instead of shaming them to come back to the pack. No worker should be complacent with their rights because they have what others outside their business deem “good enough.” Instead of racing to the bottom, let’s push each other to the top.
One might successfully argue that Tretter is more on the ball with this than certain high-level politicians who are supposed to be. Again, I digress. But as the hypothetical season grows closer, and protections in place may or may not be deemed appropriate by the players and the players’ union, to say we’re not out of the woods when it comes to an postponed, abbreviated, or even a cancelled season? That would seem to be entirely accurate.
