Financial Records Show NFLPA Paid Over $12,000 to Have Documents Shredded

Financial records show that the NFLPA paid $12,461 to have documents shredded over the past year.

The NFLPA is required to make annual financial filings with the U.S. Department of Labor and on May28 turned in its report for the period covering March 1, 2007 to Feb.29, 2008. It showed that the players' union paid $12,461 for document shredding to Office Shredders, an Elkridge, Md., company.

The NFLPA moved its Washington offices four-tenths of a mile, from 2021 L Street NW to 1133 20th Street NW, last year. According to industry experts, it is not unusual for a company to purge documents as part of a move.

That is true and, under normal circumstances, shouldn't raise too many eyebrows.

However, the NFLPA has taken a lot of heat recently over their treatment of retired players. There were Congressional hearings held and an oversight committee taking a look at retired players' claims. One of the things that committee is looking at is documentation.

The Charlotte Observer contacted NFLPA executive Gene Upshaw to ask him about all of this. Upshaw e-mailed back this:

"Your knowingly malicious attempt to link the routine practice of protecting the confidentiality of financial and other proprietary business records (a practice that every prudent business follows) with ongoing litigation and Congressional oversight hearings is libelous."

Yeah, he's pissed.

Of course, when the word "libelous" gets tossed at a newspaper, they send the dogs to start digging. According to the Observer, the NFL had no payment of paper shredding on their fiscal reports in 2005 or 2006. They also contacted a local shredding company to ask how big of a job would $12,000 pay for. According to the company, the usual cost is $0.10 a pound ... which would mean the NFLPA had more than 62 tons of paper that needed shredding ... or a stack of papers over 4,000 feet high.

The company that did the shredding for the NFLPA is owned by the company who performed the move for the NFLPA's offices.

What does this all mean? Well, it could be just what it looks like -- a company moved its offices and shredded up old, confidential papers. Sure, with all the smoke around the NFLPA's treatment of retired players there will be those who see things like this as slimy. There are things about the NFLPA that rub people (including me) the wrong way.

Still, I'm going have to go with Upshaw on this. I mean, why would they shred all those documents (and have it in their fiscal report) as the Congress is looking at their union if they were really trying to hide something?