The NFLPA will no longer compile team report card rankings after the NFL prevailed in its grievance filed against the NFL Players Association, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The NFL released a statement on Friday.
“We are pleased with the decision from the arbitrator, upholding the parties’ collective bargaining agreement and prohibiting the NFLPA from disparaging our clubs and individuals through ‘report cards’ allegedly based on data and methodologies that it has steadfastly refused to disclose. … We remain committed to working in partnership with the NFLPA and an independent survey company to develop and administer a scientifically valid survey to solicit accurate and reliable player feedback as the parties agreed in the CBA.»
In response, the players union released its own statement saying the program «is not going away.»
«The ruling upholds our right to survey players and share the results with players and clubs. While we strongly disagree with the restriction on making those results public, that limitation does not stop the program or its impact.»
The NFL filed the grievance against the NFLPA in August. The league’s grievance stemmed from CBA Article 51, Section 6, which requires the NFLPA and league management council to “use reasonable efforts to curtail public comments by Club personnel or players which express criticism of any club…”
The league also alleges the report card surveys interfere with the union upholding Article 39, Section 5, which mandates the league and union jointly conduct an anonymous survey at least once every three years regarding players’ opinions on medical care and staff. The CBA also mandates the parties “commission independent analyses of the results of such surveys.”
Despite the NFL filing the grievance, the NFLPA continued to survey players for the 2025 report cards in November.
Since 2023, team report cards ranked teams from best to worst based on criteria such as treatment of families, food/dining, locker room and ownership. Last year, nearly 1,700 players participated in the 2025 NFLPA report card survey.