After the NFL Players Association hired DeMaurice Smith to serve as executive director in 2009, one of Smith’s first key hires was George Atallah. Fifteen years and two CBAs later, Atallah is moving on.
Atallah announced his departure on Thursday.
“After an incredible 15 years . . . I am taking the leap to start my own venture at the start of 2025,” Atallah said on Twitter. “This has been the experience of a lifetime, highlighted by my relationships with player leaders, working alongside the best colleagues & others across business, labor and sports.”
Atallah’s title has been assistant executive director of external affairs. He handled communications and more for the union, through a contentious lockout and labor negotiation in 2011 and a landmark CBA in 2020 that paved the way for a 17-game season.
Through it all, player pay has gone up and up and up.
Under current executive director Lloyd Howell, who was hired in 2023, the union has become more secretive and guarded. It started with a hiring process that entailed no external transparency — and precious little transparency among the rank and file.
Atallah, who will start an advisory firm, at all times represented the interests of the players well. We agreed at times, disagreed at times. He was always cooperative and respectful.
Hopefully, the union will become a little more open and a little less insulated when it comes to communicating information to the media. The owners have managed to win the hearts and minds of many fans who routinely side with billionaires over millionaires (and plenty of players who definitely don’t have a million bucks in the bank). Some in the media feed into that divide, subtly (or not) pushing pro-management viewpoints.
The reality is that the players are the game. We tune in to watch them, not the owners. And whatever the players can get, the truth is that they should always get more. Especially since they have none of the equity.
