The NFL recently won an arbitration ruling that prevents the NFL Players Association from publishing (but not from creating) team-by-team report cards.
The first owner to be available to reporters since that development was Michael Bidwill of the Cardinals. He landed 30th among all owners in last year’s report card — and his team finished dead last.
During a press conference held in connection with the groundbreaking on the organization’s new practice facility, Bidwill was asked about the report cards.
“Well, feedback’s a gift,” Bidwill said, via Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com, “but also I knew what our plan was and I was going to make this multi-generational decision when this parcel became available to build the best possible facility and performance center that’s player-first, for the Cardinals and for our future.”
Weinfuss added that “[t]he majority of Bidwill’s response was from his talking points throughout the Cardinals’ groundbreaking event.”
Despite Bidwill’s comment, the message from the league collectively is that feedback is a scourge. The NFL attacked the process, trying mainly to kill the process and not simply to stifle publication of the results.
The owners have little accountability to anyone. The report cards represent an effective tool for making them accountable to their employees.
The good organizations embrace the feedback and make changes. The bad organizations attack the feedback and/or the process that creates it.
Once upon a time, shouting down dissent was un-American. In recent years, it’s becoming distinctly American, as it relates to those who currently have the wheel.
Hopefully, efforts to quiet disagreement will make those who disagree more willing to do so. The fact that the NFL and the owners don’t want disagreement should galvanize players to use their collective voice to express it.
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