Dear Alumni:
The recent changes to the Disability Plan that were made by the newly formed NFL Alliance Group is a good development, but I would be curious to know how many former players will actually benefit from this action. We need to stay on top of this issue and find out how many retired players will now be classified as Totally and Permanently Disabled?
If I had to guess, I’d bet the actual number will be very low.
The NFL and the NFLPA have been focusing a lot of attention to this area because it is good publicity and in the long run they know that this will not cost them a lot of money.
Although many of the injuries we incurred while playing football are very debilitating, only a small number of them are ever classified as Total and Permanent Disabilities. For those retired players that actually receive this benefit it is a very good thing!
Although this is a step in the right direction, it should not stop retired players from continuing to advocate for better pensions. If you haven’t noticed, no one from the NFL or the NFLPA has been talking about any attempt to continue to increase the Pension Plan during the next CBA negotiations. To the contrary, Gene Upshaw has been telling a lot of people that there will be no future increase to the Pension Plan. On the NFLPA website he has ominous warnings about inadequate funding creating the risk that retirees may have their benefits reduced and that this is a major problem in the steel, airline, and automobile industries.
He goes on to say that our Pension Plan covers 93% of its obligations, is healthy and well within the range of funding required by recently enacted federal pension legislation…………but, “this shortfall will grow considerably when the burden of new benefits for retired players (recently negotiated in the Collective Bargaining Agreement
extension) is added.”
I think we are a burden to Gene Upshaw.
And I hope we continue to be one.
Jeff Nixon
Buffalo Bills Alumni
