NFL players want to modify media’s locker room access for privacy reasons

Fri, Jul 26, 2024, 10:58 a.m.·7 min read

Two seasons after the NFL reopened teams’ locker rooms to reporters following the coronavirus pandemic, player leaders would like to modify the locker-room access given to media members for privacy reasons.

NFL Players Association officials say they are attempting to have the NFL’s media access policies adjusted to have reporters interview players in a different setting following games and during practice weeks.

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“What I was hoping to achieve on behalf of the membership is … to accurately articulate how they feel,” Lloyd Howell, the NFLPA’s executive director, said during a meeting this week with Washington Post reporters and editors. “And they 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.

“I’ve heard and I’ve seen all the reasons why the media is hesitant or resistant to changing it: [Players] duck out of the back. They don’t want to do the interview. The list goes on and on,” Howell said. “But there are other ways to kind of address those challenges, too. … The desire isn’t in any way to prevent [reporters from having access to players]. The desire is, ‘Let me be decent.’ ”

It’s not clear whether the NFLPA will succeed in its attempt or, if it does, what the timing for the implementation of any prospective changes would be. A modification for the upcoming season seems unlikely, given that the NFL’s 2024 media policy already has 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.

The NFL continued to operate during the pandemic but, like other professional sports leagues, closed its locker rooms to reporters as part of its strict health protocols. Those protocols were formulated jointly 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.

The NFL dropped its coronavirus protocols entirely and reopened teams’ locker rooms to accredited media members in advance of the 2022 season. 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.

But the NFLPA has raised privacy concerns in its attempt to have players interviewed in settings other than dressing areas.

“We want to respect the players’ privacy to get dressed,” Calvin Watkins, a reporter for the Dallas Morning News who is the PFWA’s president, said by phone Thursday. “I don’t think any reporter wants to talk to a butt-naked player. However, there are already rules in place for the player to have privacy before doing the interview. We have reiterated that to the union.”

The current NFL media policy says that player privacy in the locker room “is of paramount importance.” It calls for the locker-room shower area to be “screened from view” and says that teams must supply players with “wrap-around towels” or robes. The policy says that teams are “urged to take other measures” such as placing a pair of shorts in each player’s locker or building individual locker curtains. A team communications staffer is to inform players and coaches when the locker room is about to be opened to the media.

The policy calls for 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 on each Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Reporters say that being allowed into locker rooms is necessary for media members who cover teams regularly to be able to ask questions in non-group settings while developing relationships with players and building sourcing to produce more insightful, exclusive and groundbreaking reporting.

“We have a tremendous amount of respect for the players and we want to make sure they are comfortable doing interviews,” Watkins said. “However, we have a job to do and that’s to be in the locker room. I really like Lloyd. I really believe he wants what’s in the best interests of everyone involved. And hopefully down the line, this issue will not be an issue.”

The PFWA informed its members recently that the union had suggested having players and media members interact in a designated mixed zone outside the locker room, similar to the system utilized in international soccer and at the Olympics. There also were discussions about potentially extending the waiting period after games (currently 10 to 15 minutes) before locker rooms are opened to the media.

Howell said this week that the differing views are “to be expected” because of the current guidelines.

“It’s a challenge to the model where the model is, ‘I want to be in the dressing room with individuals that are in varying degrees of undress with a microphone and a camera because I’m going to be able to do my job most effectively,' ” Howell said. “And where the players are is, ‘I definitely want to engage with the media. But I’d like to have the opportunity to be decent. I’d like to be dressed. I’d like to, you know, get my thoughts together and then conduct the interview.’ ”

Howell said that he “could potentially give [reporters] more access” with a revised model, adding: “But we’re holding on to artifacts of what happened a long time ago and trying to carry it forward.”

The NFLPA raised its privacy concerns to the NFL in January, according to a person familiar with the discussions. NFL representatives rejected the union’s request then to close teams’ locker rooms to media members, according to that person. The two sides left open the possibility of that dialogue resuming at some point but there have been no further discussions between them on the topic, the person said.

It’s not clear whether the issue could be raised again during a broader set of deliberations between the league and union involving other topics. The two sides have begun discussions, Howell said, about the latest effort by the league and the NFL’s team owners to get the NFLPA to agree to an 18-game regular season, perhaps before the current collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2030 season. The NFLPA, meanwhile, plans to deliver a proposal to the league to reconfigure the offseason calendar by eliminating teams’ voluntary on-field workouts in the spring in favor of a longer ramp-up period for players leading into training camps in the summer.

The NFL long has granted regular access to reporters as a means of promoting the league. But the need for such promotion perhaps has decreased as traditional media outlets have struggled to retain their audience and influence. The NFL and teams, meanwhile, sold their broadcasting rights in 2021 for more than $110 billion over 11 years. In addition to its broadcast partners, the league has its own television channel, NFL Network, and teams have in-house reporters who post content online and on social media.

Howell said the existing media policy allows for reporters’ interviews with players to be conducted outside the locker room and “that could be an outcome.” But the NFLPA will continue to seek a broader solution, he said.

“Beyond saying, ‘Hey, this is an issue to us,' [the players] want to be part of some solutioning that, you know, is a win-win, where they will do the interview, where [reporters] will have access,” Howell said. “But at the same time, ‘Respect my space.’… That’s really it. And I’m hopeful that we’ll make progress.”