Who Will Run "Pro Football Inc."?

Hundreds of players, coaches, referees, team officials, and their families gathered at the Kennedy Center in Washington yesterday for a final farewell to longtime NFL Players Association leader Gene Upshaw.

Mourners, including his former Oakland Raiders coaches Art Shell and John Madden, paid tribute to Upshaw as a Hall of Fame offensive guard from 1967 to 1982 and as president of the player's union until his death last month at age 63. He had pancreatic cancer.

One subject not addressed at the memorial, appropriately, was who will succeed Upshaw at the head of the union as it approaches its most important contract talks in decades. Upshaw had hinted that he would try to uncap player salaries, an idea that team owners have resisted fiercely since the league adopted free agency in 1992.

It would appear that NFLPA general counsel Richard Berthelson, who is serving as interim executive director, would be would be a strong candidate to replace Upshaw. After all, he did sit at the bargaining table for the union for nearly 40 years.

But two retired players -- Trace Armstrong, who spoke at the memorial, and Troy Vincent, who didn't -- are both said to be strong candidates for the position, which the union hopes to fill by early 2009.

What remains to be seen if Upshaw's wild success as union chief means that the players feel the next executive director needs more business experience than a recently retired player can offer.

When Upshaw took over the union shortly after retiring from the field, it was broke. He deferred his salary for years in order to get the union into the black.

Today, that union, and its marketing arm -- Players Inc., of which Upshaw was C.E.O. -- generates about $400 million in revenue annually; Upshaw's last reported salary was in the $4 million range.

Players are keeping quiet about their intentions. Vincent has repeatedly declined to talk about any aspirations he may have for the top job out of respect for the Upshaw family.

Last year, Vincent was linked to a faction of players seeking to force out Upshaw before the next contract talks began in earnest. At the time, Vincent denied being associated with the group, which was led by former Baltimore Ravens punter Matt Stover.

With a relatively new commissioner in Roger Goodell, the players now have the ball. At stake is the collective bargaining agreement, which governs the billions of dollars players will earn over the length of the contract, as well as the future of the formidable business Upshaw built out of player marketing. That business could tide the union over if a strike or lockout ever again come to pass.

The next executive director will have to fill a big jersey in #63, Gene Upshaw, but thanks to how successful the hard nosed Raider was, there remains a chance he or she won't even be a player at all.

by Paul Smalera