An exclusive look at how the National Football League Players Association has evolved and expanded its initiatives and importance from the core legal representation of its players to their individual and collective business interests including marketing, sponsorships and brand licensing.

As the National Football League Players Association teams up to celebrate its 60th anniversary amidst the backdrop of the 50th annual Super Bowl extravaganza, the focus remains as simple as it was when it was founded in 1956 and the future is as promising as ever.

While the mantra to represent the best interests of its players hasn't wavered, those best interests of the mid-1950s have evolved from the basics of clean uniforms and safe equipment to include business development such as content, technology, social media and innovative brand extensions.

"Player leadership is at the center of our history. Our union has grown stronger over the past six decades because there is a belief that the sacrifices made today will benefit those who come tomorrow," says DeMaurice Smith, executive director, NFLPA. "For 60 years, we have done what every union in America has done–fought for workers' rights, sought improvements to our working conditions, protected our fair share of wages and advanced the health and safety of NFL players."

Smith maintains, however, that the history of the NFLPA is so much more than that, and it's evident in a multitude of new initiatives that have afforded players more benefits and opportunities during and after their respective football careers.

"We have innovated how we negotiate and administer benefits, improved the many ways we provide services and generated millions in revenues to support our members," emphasizes Smith, who was elected unanimously by a board of active player representatives in March 2009, succeeding Gene Upshaw, who held the post since the early 1980s. The late Upshaw, who passed away in 2008, is credited with reorganizing the association, getting the players more involved and advocating the business aspects.

"In NFL Players Inc., we have the revenue generating engine that drives our union and allows us to operate our organization without using the dues of our members. That type of innovation gives players more opportunities than ever before to explore things they want to do off-the-field," Smith adds.

Over the past several years, a major emphasis has been placed on NFL Players Inc., the licensing and marketing arm of the group, which was established in 1994, and the inherent opportunities it creates for its players. In addition to the core representation of legal, labor and health issues, there is a prime time game plan to aggressively expand its business in licensing and establish the brand potential of its players both during and after their football careers.

It's not only about selling the jersey of the most popular players, but also cultivating a brand business that drills down to a player's relationship and popularity on a local and personal level. In addition, NFL Players Inc. continues to develop new and innovative ways to connect its players with fans in ways that were not even possible throughout much of the association's early years.

"When we look back at the NFLPA, which was formed in the pre-Super Bowl era, the players wanted and needed clean socks and clean jocks; they had to do their own laundry, and they all had separate jobs outside of football, because playing football was nowhere near a full-time job for them to support their families," recalls Ahmad Nassar, president, NFL Players Inc., who joined the organization in 2009 and was named to his current position in February 2015. "When we fast forward to where we are today, it's astonishing how much the sport, the association and the business side has grown in that time frame."

For NFL Players Inc., the business has continued to grow significantly. According to the exclusive Top 150 Global Licensors report, which is published annually by License! Global magazine, NFL Players Inc. reported $1.34 billion in retail sales of licensed merchandise worldwide in 2014, ranking No. 46 overall. And according to Nassar, the goal is to double in size over the next several years.

The point that is reflective of NFL Players Inc.'s importance to the players and to its potential is that from the beginning the leaders of the players association viewed "the commercial rights as their birthright," says Nassar.

"We need to protect them, we need to monetize them and we need to grow them," he says. "Those rights are critical and empowering for everyone who works for the organization to focus on. We want players to get more out of the sport of football than the sport gets out of them."

And that same mind set and mantra is applicable to the business side of football.

"We want players to work with sponsors and with licensees to be featured in products and to have product extensions, but above all else we want players to be able to learn the business for themselves and translate that into personal success," explains Nassar. "We focus on organizational success and collective success, which is our mandate, and we want players to focus on individual success and what players can do to position themselves for life after football."

Says Jared Cook, tight end for the Los Angeles Rams, who was drafted in 2009: "The former players and the people who work for the NFLPA have really just boosted how they represent the NFL and the players. They've done so many things from player safety issues to helping players get exposure and using their likeness and their brand image. It's something that we need as players. And I think that's important to have a relationship as a player as well as a relationship as an ambassador for the NFLPA to speak about all of the positive things they do."

"I would say the biggest thing about the NFLPA is helping guys after they're done playing," says Shane Vereen, running back for the New York Giants, who was drafted in 2011. "Football is only a short amount of time, and after football you have the rest of your life. It's much more important than what you're doing now, so just to prepare for that, I think, is the best thing the NFLPA offers."

The very first player to be able to leverage his persona and parlay that into national ad campaigns and sponsorships was "Broadway" Joe Namath, who played in the NFL from 1965-1977. Then in the 1980s, a trading card boom and the launch of EA Sports' "Madden" video game series began to change the dynamics of the potential business and licensing opportunities for players.

"We still have players who do the national endorsements such as Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, and those opportunities will always be there," explains Nassar. "But the biggest difference is a broader set of opportunities with more regional and local deals for players in smaller markets. Ten years ago, only 150 to 200 players were getting any kind of deal. Now, more than 1,000 players, or half the players in the NFLPA, are getting some individual, customized deal–that's the game changer."

"Just helping players increase their marketability is an important aspect because a lot of players who may be in smaller markets might not get the same chances as players in larger markets," adds Cook. "By giving me opportunities to extend myself, make me better as a person and to get my name out there and my face out there–I feel like they are doing that already, and it's something that's going to get even better as people find out about it as it grows.

Nassar says that when Smith took over as executive director in early 2009, it was very clear that he saw the NFL Players Inc. as an "under utilized, but critical, asset."

"Smith wanted to do more and help the union succeed by putting it in the best financial position possible and help players succeed, both while they were playing and after to generate as much money for them as we possibly could," says Nassar. "He wanted us to be much more on the cusp of what's to come in the business and where new opportunities may lie."

"Over the past few years, we have been aggressively reaching out to partners in new areas to see how we can adapt the players' IP to their products," adds Steven Scebelo, vice president, licensing and business development, NFL Players Inc.. "Players have become pop culture characters–like super heroes, except that they are real."

One of the first partners that saw a new opportunity was licensee Fathead, according to Scebelo.

"They created a category and allowed the players to be featured in a new way. It reinvented the wall décor category and opened people's eyes to ask what else could we do," he explains.

Scebelo says that the NFL Players Inc.'s overall strategy is best described in one word–connections.

"We are connecting the players with the right partners and licensees that we think are a great fit, and then we are helping those licensees connect their products with their fan base."

"We want to be a consultant, advisor, coach and strategize with our partners and incentivize them," adds Nassar. "We market ourselves to our partners as much more than the licensor of 25 years ago. We want to be a dynamic partner.

The key initiatives for NFL Players Inc. that Nassar and Scebelo believe will drive growth and opportunities for the players in the future focus on the following:

Like one of its league's best coaches who prepares relentlessly for the next match up, the NFLPA has maintained a very consistent game plan for its players over the past six decades and it has successfully expanded its business in ways its early members would not have dreamed possible.

"We are on the cutting edge, we are growing the business and are proud of what we have done, but we are not satisfied with it," says Nassar.

"I believe that our union is headed for even better things in the future. We are proud of the things we have achieved, the gains we have attained, the investments we have made in the areas of medical research through the Harvard Players Health Study and in new business ventures like ACE Media," says Smith. "The NFLPA will support the lives of its members in a meaningful and substantive way for decades to come."