The National Football League Players Association’s federal political-action committee is sidelining itself from the 2026 midterms cycle.
The PAC, known as One Team PAC, hasn’t spent a penny on any 2026 midterm race so far this year, according to documents filed this week with the Federal Election Commission.
The NFLPA is the union for NFL players, often focusing its government-relations efforts on player health, labor matters and gambling issues.
An NFLPA spokesperson declined to comment Thursday.
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In contrast, Gridiron-PAC, the NFL’s official PAC, has been active during the 2026 midterms.
Between Jan. 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026, the NFL’s PAC spent around $702,000, with $625,00 going to candidates or committees and the rest going to operational costs. The PAC had about $975,000 in cash on hand as of June 30, according to FEC records.
The NFLPA’s PAC wasn’t always dormant, having spent $12,000 during the 2022 election cycle, including giving $5,000 to now-Sen. Katie Britt’s campaign, $1,000 to Marco Rubio’s Senate campaign and $1,500 to Sen. Mike Lee’s campaign, among other causes. It contributed tens of thousands of dollars more to various candidates during the 2020 and 2018 election cycles, as well.
The NFLPA’s pause in political activity coincides with leadership changes within the association, which in March of this year selected its third executive director since 2023.
JC Tretter, a former offensive lineman for the Green Bay Packers and Cleveland Browns, assumed the union’s executive director role after Lloyd Howell resigned amid controversy concerning his position as a part-time consultant for The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm approved to purchase passive minority stakes in NFL franchises.
Tretter served as the NFLPA’s player president from 2020 to 2024 before resigning shortly after Howell and his own scandal. At the time, Tretter expressed having no interest in the executive director role.
In Washington, the NFLPA is also curbing spending on federal-level lobbying activities. It’s on pace to spend less on federal government lobbying activities in 2026 than it has in more than a decade, according to records compiled by OpenSecrets.
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