Executive Director DeMaurice Smith Takes Key Union Topics to Capitol Hill
NFLPA Public Policy Counsel Joe Briggs follows up on meetings held on Capitol Hill on November 20. NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith and other Union executives walked the halls to speak with legislators on important player health and safety issues.
“We raised the issue of the league’s new chief medical officer that they recently hired, issues about concussion protocols [and] whether they’re being followed, whether we’re seeing any trends in injury data as it relates to concussions or other serious injuries, and then finally a lot of conversations about youth football,” said Smith to the Washington Post at the time.
Smith said that the NFLPA, which is headquartered in Washington, D.C., makes trips to Capitol Hill to discuss issues about four times per year, scheduling meetings with between eight and 10 members each time.
“They’re football fans. They’re parents. They’re obviously people who have constituents who care about issues,” Smith told the Washington Post. “The issues range from health and safety in the NFL to what our opinions are on the health and safety of football on the collegiate and youth level, issues related to fantasy football, issues related to commissioner discipline, domestic violence. But I would say predominantly the interests were about the health and safety of football participants.”
On the Nov. 20 visit, the NFLPA spoke with Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.) and Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) amongst others. Take a peek behind the scenes as Smith walks the halls of the Capitol in the video below.