The Jacksonville Jaguars' locker room. The Jacksonville Jaguars’ locker room in 2021.

There’s been a lot of discussion of NFL players’ attempts to reduce media’s locker room access this season. To this point, the league has not changed any policies, and while certain players and teams have lobbied for less media in locker rooms and more interviews in other settings, there have only been a few cases of tangible impacts. But there’s been a lot of coverage of individual players and the NFLPA pushing for less locker-room availabilities. And along those lines, it’s useful to see some strong on-the-record pushback on why this could be problematic, and that’s perhaps the most notable part of a Ben Strauss Washington Post feature on the situation published Wednesday:

Strauss’ piece does a good job of outlining the comments made by particular players and NFLPA representatives on why they want these policies changed, something the association has been pushing for since this summer. But the largest advance to the dialogue here comes from the on-the-record comments he gets from NFL writers who oppose this. In particular, Mike Silver (now of The Athletic, formerly of The San Francisco Chronicle, NFL Network, Yahoo and more) and Kevin Clark (formerly of The Wall Street Journal and The Ringer, now of Omaha Productions) gave him some notable quotes:

“I’ve been covering football players for 35 years,” said Mike Silver, a national football reporter for the Athletic. “Toughness is a defining characteristic. Torn biceps, separated shoulders — this ain’t baseball. Not only the request, but language being used is laughable. I think they said safe space. I’m a bleeding-heart lefty. I believe in sensitivity; I take that seriously. But the football players I’ve known for years have got to be rolling their eyes on this. These tough-ass dudes saying their privacy is being violated.”

Added Kevin Clark…. “The NFL has the best, most accurate, most nuanced local coverage, and it’s because beat writers can go up to a guy and just say, ‘Hey, I was thinking on that defensive bust maybe the call was something and this happened’ and a player can just say yes or no.”

Beyond those remarks from Silver and Clark, there’s an interesting comment from Ed Malyon, who was formerly the managing director for soccer coverage at The Athletic. Malyon points out how the more-limited access the players are pushing for here is similar to what’s seen in England’s Premier League, and says that hasn’t helped that league.

Ed Malyon, the former managing director of soccer coverage at the Athletic, pointed to the minimal access to players in the English Premier League as a counterpoint. They are rarely available during the practice week, and reporters are lucky to speak with one or two after a game. Malyon said something like the Athletic’s popular anonymous player polls couldn’t be done without the current access.

“There’s less coverage of Premier League teams than American teams, and part of that is because of the access,” Malyon said.

The Premier League is certainly not struggling for popularity, but coverage tends to be more focused on coaches because they are often the only ones speaking with the media. The Premier League, Malyon said, isn’t tapping its full potential because players are so inaccessible. “The [NFL] is damaging itself if it gets rid of this,” he said.

There can absolutely be debates around the best way to have player-media interactions in a way that works for both sides. That piece also notes that some teams (including the New York Yankees in Major League Baseball) have found ways to have players’ dressing space outside the media-accessible “locker room,” and it discusses middle-of-the-road approaches from some NFL teams, such as allowing reporters in without letting them shoot video.

But yes, if the NFL did wind up adopting the NFLPA proposal here (Strauss notes there’s no indication they will as of yet), that would likely negatively impact media coverage of the league. That’s  especially true if it’s done in a way where reporters don’t get to have the casual conversations Clark mentions. And it’s notable to hear the likes of Silver, Clark, and Malyon sound off on potential pitfalls here.

[The Washington Post]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.