Podcast Summary:

It Could Happen Here – "How to Break a Union From the Inside: The NFL Players Association, Pt. 1"
Air Date: April 6, 2026 | Host: Bo Wong (Cool Zone Media) | Guest: Charles McDonald (Yahoo Sports, Football 301 Podcast)

Overview

This episode explores the dramatic decline of the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), historically considered one of the most high-profile unions in American sports. With the expertise of NFL journalist Charles McDonald, the hosts dissect how the union's power was systematically eroded from the inside—turning it from a player-driven, militant force to a bureaucratic, opaque service organization vulnerable to manipulation by NFL owners and outside business interests.

Key Topics & Insights

1. The Decay of Union Power in the NFLPA

• The episode sets the stage by describing the NFLPA's transformation from a combative, democratic union to an entity gutted by bureaucracy and collusion.
• Quote:
  • “It’s a story about, you know, the replacement of democracy with bureaucracy, like the death spiral of business unionism.” – Bo Wong [02:25]

2. Origins and Gene Upshaw’s Legacy

• Gene Upshaw, Hall of Fame player and long-time union leader, personified an era where the union actively went on strike, garnered solidarity from other unions, and directly confronted NFL owners.
• The show details the consequences when strikes were lost and how the union’s militancy waned following Upshaw’s death in 2008.
• Notable Moment:
  • "Gene, like, over the course of this, runs into... they start losing strikes, which is just like a nightmare. And then he just, like, dies in 2008. Like, it was really horrible." – Bo Wong [09:07]

3. Shifts in Ownership and Culture

• NFL teams have increasingly been acquired by non-football people—corporate interests and hedge funds, shifting priorities from sport to capital.
• The personalities once aligned with football’s culture are being replaced, creating further distance from player needs.

4. The 2006 CBA & Revenue "Shell Game"

• In 2006, a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) was billed as advantageous for players (60/40 split), but owners took a “revenue credit” off the top, obscuring the real numbers.
• When owners exercised their opt-out clause, the actual split was only 51-52% for players—something owners still deemed "unacceptable."
• Quote:
  • “It was fake in the sense that there was something called like a revenue credit...the owners took off of the pie before it went down to, like, the 60, 40 split.” – Charles McDonald [13:50]

5. Leadership Vacuum and Owner Tactics

• After Upshaw’s death, NFL owners exploited the union’s transition, installing Damor Smith as Exec. Director.
• With the 2010 lockout, owners displayed ruthless cohesion—even punishing each other (e.g., Jerry Jones, Dan Snyder) for spending outside agreed parameters, a testament to cartel behavior.
• Memorable Exchange:
  • “You fine each other for paying [players] too much money.” – Bo Wong
  • “Like, you fine each other for paying.” – Charles McDonald [21:20]

6. Collapse in 2011: Capitulation and Bad Deals

• The 2011 lockout saw the union decertify in a failed antitrust strategy.
• The resulting CBA marked a turning point:
  • Player revenue shrunk to 47%
  • Roger Goodell gained autocratic power over player discipline
  • The “rookie wage scale” gutted rookie earnings—seen as a win for older players, but ultimately pushing out the middle class as owners exploited cheap labor
• Quote:
  • “The only people that benefited, really, were people like Drew Brees, people like Tom Brady, people who don’t need it.” – Bo Wong [30:16]
• Veteran perspective: rising stars benefit, but most players are churned out quickly, losing institutional memory and reducing union consciousness.

7. Structural Decay & Business Unionism

• The union shifted toward “business unionism,” prioritizing “service” over solidarity or collective action.
• Decisions are now brokered behind closed doors. The player base is often unaware or actively kept in the dark.
• Quote:
  • “What happens when you have 30 people, and the executive committee is even smaller...they didn't even know the names of the candidates until they walked into the meeting.” – Bo Wong [39:17]
  • “That’s where I shift from, oh, it’s not that these guys don’t care...they don’t know what’s going on.” – Charles McDonald [39:20]

8. 2020 CBA and Pandemic Concessions

• Despite dangers, players trade a 17th game for an anemic 1% bump in revenue share; only small gains are made for league veterans and practice squad members.
• Billionaire owners use the pandemic as leverage, locking in extremely lucrative—yet owner-friendly—TV deals.
• Quote:
  • “The 17th game...straight up a revenue play...That didn’t really happen, you know, like, no. They just gave up the 17th game and they got, I think, 1% more in terms of the rev share. So got to like 48 or 49%. Like, that’s it.” – Charles McDonald [41:07]

9. Opaque Union Elections & Leadership Corruption

• J.C. Tretter, the NFLPA president, engineers secretive executive director elections, culminating in the hiring of Lloyd Howell, a former Booz Allen Hamilton CFO with a background in union busting and direct stakes in NFL team investments (via Carlyle Group).
• The process is not just secretive but fundamentally compromised: Howell is caught misusing funds and faces credible allegations of sexual harassment.
• Quote:
  • “Lloyd Howell...his background was in busting unions.” – Charles McDonald [45:02]
  • “He’s on camera...talking to owners about letting the investment group in...it’s as close as I’ve seen outside of a union literally run by bosses to ‘my union guy works for management.’” – Bo Wong [46:43]

10. Outlook and What Comes Next

• The episode closes with a teaser that things will get even worse in the next installment, hinting at evidence NFL bosses paid to control their own union leadership.
• The hosts underscore the lesson: “Form unions. If you’re in unions that suck, make better ones.” [48:43]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It’s a classic case of just straight up organizational decay.” – Charles McDonald [03:18]
• “You lost $60 million in terms of value from the year before.” – Charles McDonald, highlighting drastic rookie wage loss [29:41]
• “There’s no middle class, like, that’s gone from the NFL.” – Charles McDonald [31:40]
• “This is as close as I’ve ever seen to, outside a union that’s literally run by the bosses, to ‘my union guy works for management.’” – Bo Wong [46:52]

Key Timestamps

• 02:22 – Introduction of episode’s theme and guest
• 09:07 – Gene Upshaw’s leadership and the union’s militant history
• 13:45 – The “fake” revenue split of the 2006 CBA
• 21:02 – NFL’s monopoly practices and collusion
• 23:12 – The grim economics of NFL playing careers
• 25:45 – Losses in the 2011 CBA: money, power, and protections
• 29:41 – The impact of the rookie wage scale and collapse of the “middle class”
• 38:05 – Transition to a “service union” model
• 39:17 – Secretive executive committee and information blackout
• 45:02 – Lloyd Howell’s hiring: from union-buster to union leader
• 48:43 – Teaser for the next part, plea for union reform

Conclusion

This episode offers a sobering, accessible case study in how unions—especially high-profile ones—can be systematically dismantled from within, through a mixture of leadership vacuum, backroom dealmaking, owner collusion, and structural shifts toward bureaucracy. Listeners get both thorough context and close-up stories from the NFL’s labor landscape, with a preview of deeper corruption to be explored in part two.

For more information, listeners are encouraged to follow Charles McDonald’s “Football 301 Podcast” and check out his work at Yahoo Sports.