NFLPA Leadership Vote Nears With 18th-Game Debate Looming

The NFL Players Association has reportedly narrowed its list of finalists for a permanent executive director, who could be named as soon as next month.

Three of the known finalists are NFLPA interim executive director David White, former union chief strategy officer JC Tretter, and American Conference commissioner Tim Pernetti, according to sources cited by ESPN.

Other candidates who interviewed for the role but are no longer in the running include former NFLPA president Domonique Foxworth, retired quarterback Matt Schaub, and former Colts center Jeff Saturday, per ESPN.

The 32 NFLPA player representatives will vote on the finalists at the annual union meeting in San Diego next month.

More About the Finalists

White was named interim executive director in August, after Lloyd Howell Jr. resigned in July. When Howell was hired in 2023, White was the runner-up for the executive director role.

White is the former head of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), which is essentially Hollywood’s version of the NFLPA. He served as national executive director and chief negotiator of SAG-AFTRA from 2009 to 2021. 

Tretter is a former offensive lineman who played for the Packers and Browns, and retired in 2022. He served as NFLPA president from 2020 to 2024. Howel created the position of chief strategy officer that Tretter assumed after his most recent term as president ended; he was unable to run for re-election since he was no longer on an active NFL roster.

Following the scandal that led to Howell’s resignation, Tretter said he would not seek the permanent NFLPA executive director position.

Pernetti has been commissioner of the American Conference since July 2024, and before that was the president of IMG Academy. 

Big Job Ahead

The NFLPA’s choice of a new permanent executive director will have several major ramifications for the league.

NFL owners’ desire to add an 18th regular-season game has effectively been on hold, with commissioner Roger Goodell waiting until a new NFLPA head is in place to ramp up those negotiations again.

Those talks about expanding the season will be crucial to the NFL’s next collective bargaining agreement, with the current contract expiring in March 2031. They will also be key to any potential effort from the NFL to re-negotiate the league’s current media rights deals before an opt-out clause after the 2029 season.

The permanent NFLPA executive director will also be tasked with leading other big union efforts, like the player report cards that were leaked last week after the NFL won a labor grievance that prevented the union from publicly releasing them.