A massive AT&T outage is impacting NFL business.
The NFL Players Association scheduled a virtual agent seminar for today. It got started, and then it crapped out.
“We are aware of the technical issues,” the union said in an email to agents. “The AT&T outage has affected our platform. Please continue to be patient and we will send an update once the issue has been resolved.”
The union has since pulled the plug on the session, postponing it to a later date.
Agents have had limited exposure to new executive director Lloyd Howell. Under his predecessor, DeMaurice Smith, the relationship between the NFLPA and agents struggled at times.
The agents are on the front lines of the daily fights on behalf of union members. However, some agents like to complain about the union to media members, who will take the information and spread it without scrutiny or even giving the union a chance to response. That has added to the animosity.
It dates back to the 2011 CBA. Many agents think Smith did a bad deal. Those agents weren’t afraid to say it to reporters who then reported it. The truth might be that Smith did the best deal he did with a rank and file that was never going to miss a paycheck.
Regardless, the players are better off if the union and agents work together cooperatively, productively, and amicably. Hopefully, both sides realize that — and both sides will get there.
