Quote:I kind of lean towards the team(s) in this case.  In my opinion, your employer has the right to dictate when you are and are not "off" of work.  Just because it is the off-season, a player is still employed by the team that they are attached to
, and still has an obligation to that team.

 

By the same token, players probably prefer to use their own doctors/therapists in their own home towns, and I certainly understand that.

 

The bottom line though is that players need to conform to their employer's rules.

That is a tricky thing to figure out...Are they really still employed by the team during the off season? They do not draw a salary and can draw unemployment, so they are not compensated by the team during the off season, they are only compensated through the league year...Then, even under contract, there is no 100% guarantee they will be with the same franchise or even in the NFL when the next league year begins...Not to mention the "off season" is well defined and dated...The NFL franchise owners can not say "ok I know it's the of season but you are still employed by me and during the off season you will do this and that and that and you will do it from this day to this day in Po Dunk Holler and then report to our next team oriented even ..."

 

To me this would be more of a "seasonal employment" than general employment...Not to mention no employer has the right to tell you where you can go and what you can do during non working time...NFL players (most anyway) don't live in their home state...Does your employer have the right to say you can not go home for the time you are off work? No...

 

Some NFL contracts do contain specific clauses that have been controversial such as (the only one I remember and it's fuzzy) Big Ben's contract had a stipulation. something about riding his motorcycle, and then he crashed it, and I never heard anything more about it...  

 

EDIT: If a regular employee is injured on the job, the company sends them to "their Drs." Wouldn't that be the same for the NFL teams? 

---