Multimedia journalist Pablo Torre recently unearthed a 61-page ruling from system arbitrator Christopher Droney that contained evidence that NFL owners colluded to diminish guaranteed money in player contracts. Torre reported on the contents of the document alongside Pro Football Focus founder Mike Florio on a recent episode of his podcast, Pablo Torre Finds Out, and talked about the potential implications associated therein. In the ensuing days though, the story has not received the national attention some people believe it merits in that it contains information obtained through expedited discovery and details some of the inner workings between the league and NFLPA.
“I think it’s a big deal, but the NFL doesn’t want people to talk about it,” Florio said during an appearance on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on Monday. “The union buried the thing for reasons that still aren’t obvious because the union should be using it as a hammer, so that’s it in a nutshell. The NFL rarely gets caught doing anything it shouldn’t be doing. It got caught colluding, and no one wants to talk about it. Even now six days later, I can’t get people to talk about it, mainly because people fear reprisals.”
Florio spoke about how this document should have functioned as a cudgel of sorts for the union to gain more leverage against the league. On the contrary though, neither side has wanted to talk about it and it was not distributed for public consumption. While he acknowledged that people have bias that their reporting is important when it is the result of the work they put in, he finds it fascinating that the paper trail and circumstantial evidence has not generated more interest.
“I must have done 15 radio and podcast appearances last week that I ordinarily wouldn’t have done, so some folks get it, but the people who are in position to advance the ball, and think about it,” Florio said. “There is an army of reporters who devote their professional time to covering the NFL, and when a story like this comes along, there are ways to advance it. You get comments from players, you get comments from agents, you get different angles, you talk to an expert if need be to tell you what this all means.”
As their discussion regarding this topic concluded, Le Batard directed Florio to name the people who ultimately need to chase down this story. While he did not give specific reporters or outlets that should embark on this venture, he did give a general synopsis on media professional jobs who should be trying to advance the reporting, some of whom include insiders and those who cover the various teams involved.
“No one wants to bother,” Florio said. “Well, it’s because they don’t understand the story, they don’t want to understand the story, they don’t want to step into a bear trap and affect their own careers. I think it’s a cocktail of reasons that are causing most of the people in this business to just keep their heads low and their mouths shut.”
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