NFL players have not revived their efforts made through their union two years ago to be interviewed by media members at a location other than teams’ locker rooms.
The NFL Players Association—then led by executive director Lloyd Howell, who resigned in scandal last year—made that push in 2024. Some players exercised their right then under the NFL’s media policy to be interviewed outside the locker room.
But as the new NFL season nears, the discussions between the NFLPA, the league, and the Pro Football Writers of America on the issue have remained inactive, sources familiar with the matter tell Front Office Sports.
It’s not clear whether the NFLPA will renew its effort and, if so, when.
The NFLPA, the NFL, and the PFWA declined to comment Thursday.
JC Tretter, an offensive lineman for the Packers and Browns from 2014 to 2021, was elected by player representatives in March as the union’s executive director. He is expected to visit players on all NFL teams in the coming months before prioritizing the organization’s next moves. The NFLPA’s pending negotiations with the league and NFL team owners on issues related to a new collective bargaining agreement, which could include an 18-game regular season, likely will remain on hold for the foreseeable future while Tretter seeks input from players and plots his course as executive director.
The league and union have often had a combative relationship during and between labor negotiations, but they have managed to work together cooperatively on several recent measures. They jointly announced a new player-accountability system last week by which any player who violates specified on-field safety rules three times this season will receive an automatic one-game suspension. Any player who has only one such infraction will have half the fine money for that violation refunded at season’s end.
They also combined on a behavioral health initiative that took effect this month. And players had significant input, league leaders said last week at the owners’ meeting in Atlanta, into the NFL’s decision to eliminate the Pro Bowl Game while continuing to honor players selected as Pro Bowlers.
Tretter served as the NFLPA’s president as a player and then had a stint as its chief strategy officer. So he’s familiar with almost all of the pertinent issues, including the players’ past efforts regarding the media’s access to locker rooms.
Howell was the union’s executive director when the NFLPA said in 2024 that it was attempting to have the league’s media policies adjusted to have reporters interview players in a setting other than the locker room following games and practices. The union cited privacy considerations.
“What I was hoping to achieve on behalf of the membership is … to accurately articulate how they feel,” Howell told The Washington Post in July 2024. “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 had discussions around that time with the NFL and the PFWA on the issue. The PFWA told its members then that the NFLPA suggested having players and media members interact in a designated mixed zone outside the locker room, similar to the system often used in Olympic sports and international soccer. There also were discussions at that time about extending the specified waiting period of 10 to 15 minutes after games before media members are permitted to enter locker rooms.
“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 told the Post in 2024. “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.’”
The NFL rejected the NFLPA’s request in early 2024 to close teams’ locker rooms to media members, although the league did express a willingness to listen to the players’ privacy concerns. The league sets the sport’s media policies, with input from the NFLPA and the PFWA.
In October 2024, some NFL players exercised their right under the media policy to be interviewed by the media outside the locker room during the practice week. That is a right for players under the policy that is separate from the game-day policy, in which players are not permitted to stipulate that they be interviewed outside the locker room.
“Over the past three years, the NFLPA has tried to work with the NFL and Pro Football Writers of America to move media interviews out of locker rooms,” the union said in a statement issued then. “However, there has been little willingness to collaborate on a new solution. Players feel that locker room interviews invade their privacy and are uncomfortable. This isn’t about limiting media access but about respecting players’ privacy and dignity.
“The NFL’s current media policy is outdated. We … urge the NFL to make immediate changes to foster a more respectful and safer workplace for all players. In the meantime, we encourage each player to ask for interviews outside the locker room during the week.”
The PFWA said in a statement at that time that it “appreciates the NFLPA membership following the NFL media policy that has been in place for decades. NFL players asking to speak outside the locker room has always been part of the league’s media access policy. We are in continuing discussions with NFLPA executives regarding the media access policy. The goal is to make everyone comfortable in locker room settings and to have players and clubs follow the NFL media policy.”
The NFL closed its locker rooms to reporters under its strict health protocols—formulated jointly with the union—during the coronavirus pandemic that affected the 2020 and 2021 seasons. The league allowed some team-affiliated reporters into locker rooms during the 2021 season. Otherwise, media members conducted interviews remotely or, in later stages, in group settings outside the locker room. The protocols were dropped ahead of the 2022 season, and locker rooms were reopened to the media. (One major American sports league, the WNBA, never reopened its locker rooms to media after the pandemic.)
The NFL’s media policy calls for players to be available to reporters after games and four times during a normal practice week. Teams’ locker rooms are to be open to media members for at least 45 minutes each Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
The policy says it attaches “paramount importance” to player privacy in locker rooms and calls for the shower area to be screened from view. It requires teams to provide players with wrap-around towels or robes and urges them to take other steps such as placing a pair of shorts in each player’s locker and putting curtains on lockers. Under the policy, players and coaches are to be informed by the team’s communications staff when media members are about to enter the locker room.
