App for N.F.L. Players to Promote Safe Rides

The N.F.L. players association hopes to address the issue in a new partnership it has formed with the technology firm Uber, which makes a smartphone app that acts as a digital dispatcher for people looking for a taxi or a car service.

The service, which is available in more than half of the N.F.L.’s cities, will allow players and their families to hail a ride in minutes with a few taps on their phone. Uber’s service would complement an existing program run by the union in which players can summon a car by placing a phone call. Because Uber relies on G.P.S., players will not need to know the precise address of their location to get a ride home. “This generation is more tied to having a mobile device,” said DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the players association, who has used Uber for more than a year. “If we can move to a world where we are using the phenomenon to increase the safety of our players, then the partnership with Uber is a no-brainer.”

Uber already works with professional sports teams including the San Francisco Giants and with prominent players like Kevin Love of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The company operates in 17 of the N.F.L.’s 31 cities, but it has been unable to break into markets like Houston and Miami because of regulations governing taxi companies.

Players will be offered $200 in credits as an inducement to use the service, which begins next week.

“We’re working to educate city governments that this reduces drunk driving and gets people out of their cars,” said Travis Kalanick, an Uber co-founder and the chief executive. “Sometimes, pro players’ lives are unscheduled, and that’s where Uber can be helpful.”

The program has conveniences, but it is unclear how many more players will use it. The league ran a program that was dismantled several years ago because, among other things, some players feared that teams would keep tabs on their whereabouts. In 2010, the union started Player Transportation Link, a phone-based program that has received an average of 50 calls a month during the past three years. Teams also offer their own security services.

Since 2006, about 70 percent of the players arrested on charges of driving while intoxicated were apprehended in the metropolitan area where they were based, according to union figures. Most instances of driving while intoxicated involved players who were in the league a year or two, and occurred on Fridays and Saturdays from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m.

Since 2006, players paid nearly $2.4 million in fines and lost almost $2.9 million in salary in cases of impaired driving. Some players lost far more.

Last December, Dallas Cowboys nose tackle Josh Brent was charged with intoxication manslaughter after Jerry Brown, a linebacker on the team’s practice squad, was killed in a car that Brent was driving early on a Saturday morning in a suburb of Dallas. Brown and Brent had been teammates at the University of Illinois when Brent was arrested in 2009 for driving under the influence.

Ultimately, the union and Uber hope that the ease of hailing a cab with a smartphone translates into smarter behavior. “The goal is to come up with a web of things so players can take part,” Smith said.