NFLPA to host rookie event

A week after the NFL canceled its annual rookie symposium due to the continuing lockout, the NFL Players Association has decided to host its own event to help the incoming class adjust to life in pro football.

"The Business of Football: Rookie Edition” will be held on June 28-29 in Washington, D.C. The event will focus on financial education and preparing players for their impending careers.

Of course, those careers are on hold because of the NFL's longest-ever work stoppage, which shows now signs of ending any time soon. Teams are prohibited from having contact with players, and the league last week scuttled its orientation program because of the lockout.

“The NFLPA is always going to serve players,” said George Atallah, the NFLPA’s assistant executive director of external affairs. “The goal for ‘The Business of Football: Rookie Edition’ is to best prepare and equip rookie players to be professionals.”

The NFLPA will pay for the rookies to attend. It is a voluntary event, so it is uncertain how many players will show up. All 254 players who were drafted can attend.

The NFLPA will outline information about finances and the role of the players association. The NFLPA decertified as a union in March, but is now acting as a trade association.

The NFL canceled the rookie symposium because it could not commit to the number of people who needed to attend and lecture the rookies. It was scheduled for June 26 in Canton, Ohio.

At the owners' meetings in Indianapolis last week, NFL vice president Adolpho Birch said the league "waited as long as we could." He called the rookie symposium "an extremely complex event that requires a lot of people - from all of the drafted players to the panelists and presenters, production people and the youth camp that is associated with it. It is really a large production."