The NFL Players Association wants to change the ways the media interviews players.
In a recent interview with the Washington Post, the NFLPA executive director Lloyd Hall said that players “do not want to be interviewed when they’re naked. And to open the door for doing some solutioning of what could be more effective.”
The union has had discussions on the issue with the league and with the Pro Football Writers of America. Howell said the NFLPA is not attempting to keep reporters from doing their jobs or to reduce the amount of time during which players would be available to media members.
It remains unclear whether the NFLPA will have success in its attempt or what the timing would look like for implementing a change. A modification of the upcoming season seems highly unlikely, given the NFL’s 2024 media policy has already been set and distributed. The league controls the sport’s media policies and, while it has expressed a willingness to listen to the players’ privacy concerns, it has not signaled an intention to make a change. The NFL declined to comment.
Two years ago, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the NFL closed its locker rooms to reports as part of a strict health protocol. Those protocols were jointly agreed upon by the NFL and the NFLPA for the 2020 and 2021 seasons, giving the union a say in media access during that period. Reporters conducted interviews virtually or, later, in news conferences or group settings outside the locker room. The league did allow some team-affiliated reporters into locker rooms during the 2021 season.
Prior to the start of the 2022 season, the NFL dropped the coronavirus protocols entirely and reopened the locker rooms to media members. For the past two seasons, reporters have had access to players in locker rooms at stadiums following games and at teams’ practice facilities during the week leading up to games.
The current policy requires players to be available to reporters after games and four times during a normal practice week, with open locker rooms for at least 45 minutes each Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
