Off the Gridiron Conflict: Why the NFL Should Use Mediation to Resolve Internal Disputes

Authors

Bryan Weitzman

First Page

143

Last Page

162

Document Type

Comment

Abstract

The National Football League (NFL) is a multibillion-dollar enterprise built on a sport that fundamentally depends on communication, cooperation, and collaboration. Yet the league resolves nearly all internal disputes through adversarial arbitration mechanisms embedded in the NFL Constitution and the NFL/NFL Players Association Collective Bargaining Agreement. This comment argues that the NFL’s exclusive reliance on arbitration is conceptually inconsistent with the values that the sport instills and structurally prejudicial to players, coaches, and employees—particularly where the Commissioner retains final arbitral authority. An examination of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) principles and case studies demonstrates how the NFL’s current internal dispute resolution practices undermine legitimacy, fairness, and trust between the league and its most important stakeholders. This comment proposes incorporating mandatory mediation—an ADR process more closely aligned with football’s collaborative culture—into the NFL’s dispute resolution framework as a prerequisite to binding arbitration, thereby enhancing procedural fairness while more authentically reflecting the values that the game itself teaches.

Recommended Citation

Bryan Weitzman, Off the Gridiron Conflict: Why the NFL Should Use Mediation to Resolve Internal Disputes, 26 Pepp. Disp. Resol. L.J. 143 (2026)
Available at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/drlj/vol26/iss1/5