NFL draws criticism for eliminating team report cards

The NFL faced criticism on Friday after succeeding in blocking the release of the NFLPA’s annual team report cards.

The league announced that it had prevailed in a grievance filed against the players union that sought to block the public release of the report cards. The NFL added that it would “develop and administer a scientifically valid survey to solicit accurate and reliable player feedback.”

The NFLPA had previously released the annual player surveys which rated team ownership and facilities in a number of categories. The NFL sought to end them by arguing that the data in them had been cherry-picked.

Several reporters noted that the report cards had led to significant changes for certain teams, and that would likely stop now that they will no longer be public.

Fundamentally, the NFL almost certainly wanted to stop the publication of the report cards at the behest of owners because they sometimes made some owners look bad. They may have motivated some owners to make changes in response to poor grades, but they did so essentially because they were shamed into it publicly, which was no doubt bad for their reputations.