Retired Players Help Market the NFL

WILL THE NFL EVER PROVIDE ROYALTIES OR RESIDUALS TO RETIRED PLAYERS?
By Jeff Nixon, Buffalo Bills Alumni/Fourth and Goal Board Member

While the retired players Class Action lawsuit against the NFLPA and Players Inc. confirmed our suspicions about how little our union cared about marketing us to the public at large, it got me to thinking about who would be the best agent for marketing retired players.  As I mentioned in a previous posting, it would make perfect sense to have the NFL owners, via their marketing arms – NFL Properties, NFL Ventures and NFL Films provide this service for us since the NFLPA has discontinued the Group Licensing Authorization.

The marketing plan of the owners, with respect to retired players, has been to highlight the History of the NFL so that fans will feel a sense of tradition and loyalty to their teams. That tradition is then handed down to younger generations and although the names and faces of many retired players eventually fade from memory, there is still an underlying feeling of respect and dignity for the pioneers of the game. Every year the NFL reminds the fans of this fact when they honor newly inducted members of the Hall of Fame. The NFL also reminds fans of the historic nature of the game when they require current teams to don the uniforms of past teams. Throwback football jerseys bring in a lot of money, so even though they are honoring past generations of football players and teams, the bottom line ($) is always part of the equation.  NFL Stadiums across the nation are adorned with the names of players that made the local team’s Wall of Fame. The NFL Network shows the great games of the past and typically shows every past Superbowl leading up to the current Superbowl. MVP’s of past Superbowls have been trotted out on the field before the game. And finally, NFL Films has archives full of vhs tapes and dvd’s that have been sold to the public and the media for the past 45 years. Here’s what Steve Sabol, CEO of NFL Films says about the company that his father founded in 1964. “Before we started, the NFL had a tradition like baseball has a tradition. What we did was give football a mythology.”

In helping the owners market their product, many retired players in cities across America have been, and will continue to be, good will ambassadors for the game we love. On the strength of our celebrity, we have raised millions of dollars for local charities, but no price tag can be put on the lives that are touched when retired players go into the community to meet disabled veterans, talk to young people at a sports banquets, hand out meals to the homeless at City Missions, or deliver a Thanksgiving day meal to people at a local church. We do these things with no thoughts of enumeration, but nonetheless, the NFL is benefiting from our work because it bolsters their image.

This leads me to the point I am trying to make. While we are busy marketing the NFL, what is the NFL doing to market us.  At one time, the NFL owned the exclusive marketing and “image” rights of active players. That all changed when the NFLPA, through the 1993 collective bargaining agreement, formed Players Inc. and became the primary licensing agent for players. The current CBA, under appendix C spells out this agreement.

APPENDIX C
NFL PLAYER CONTRACT

4. PUBLICITY AND NFLPA GROUP LICENSING PROGRAM.

(a) Player grants to Club and the League, separately and together, the authority to use his name and picture for publicity and the promotion of NFL Football, the League or any of its member clubs in newspapers, magazines, motion pictures, game programs and roster manuals, broadcasts and telecasts, and all other publicity and advertising media, provided such publicity and promotion does not constitute an endorsement by Player of a commercial product. Player will cooperate with the news media, and will participate upon request in reasonable activities to promote the Club and the League. Player and National Football League Players Association, hereinafter “NFLPA,” will not contest the rights of the League and its member clubs to telecast, broadcast, or otherwise transmit NFL Football or the right of NFL Films to produce, sell, market, or distribute football game film footage, except insofar as such broadcast, telecast, or transmission of footage is used in any commercially marketable game or interactive use. The League and its member clubs, and Player and the NFLPA, reserve their respective rights as to the use of such broadcasts, telecasts or transmissions of footage in such games or interactive uses, which shall be unaffected by this subparagraph.

As I’m sure you noticed, I have highlighted the section regarding NFL Film’s right to produce, sell, market, or distribute football game film footage. This same exact language is in every player contract and essentially allows the NFL to copyright protect all of the films they produce, except when it comes to footage used in commercially marketable games like Madden Football.  So the NFL continues to profit off retired players, but through recent CBA negotiations they have given concessions to active players.

Wouldn’t it be nice if retired players could collect a percentage of royalties and residual payments on the sale of films that they played in? The language in the NFL player contract makes it clear that the active player and the NFLPA will not contest the rights of the League and its member clubs on this issue, but there is nothing saying that retired players cannot contest the League and its member clubs.

One way to look at this issue is to compare our former profession to that of entertainment professionals, because in the end, we were part of the entertainment industry.  Professionals involved in this business include actors, musicians, artists, writers, tv hosts, athletes etc.  So, for example, what happens when an actor who stars in a tv sitcom retires, or is not picked up for a new season (nice way of saying they were waived, cut, terminated)….. but the network continues to show the sitcom he starred in? Most actors continue to receive royalties/residual payments negotiated by their agent. The actors are also represented by their union, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG).  Their union was smart enough to negotiate with the owners and producers to make sure that they established industry-wide policies and standards to help actors get compensated when their performances were re-run or put into syndication. As you may recall, the actors recently went on strike to make sure that they are also compensated when their performances are also aired on the internet and other media devices.  It’s is unbelievably ironic that the head of the SAG is Doug Allen, the former President of the NFLPA’s marketing entity – Players Inc.  While NFL Films was making a fortune on the sale of our performances, what did Doug Allen do to help retired players secure an agreement with NFL Management to compensate retired players?

The NFL and NFL Films are already beginning the next phase of their marketing plan with regard to retired players. Check out this link to a Wired Magazine article to find out more about their plans to digitize the entire NFL Films archive and sell it to the public.

I have also attached a listing of all videos and dvd’s that are currently being sold by NFL Films. VIDEO LISTS

Since there has never been any agreement negotiated by the NFLPA on behalf of retired players over this issue and no group or individual person, to my knowledge, has ever contested the NFL over this issue, or asked the NFL for a piece of the action, then they will go right on doing it unless something can be negotiated through the collective bargaining process.

Does anyone really think the NFLPA will negotiate on our behalf?

Does anyone think the NFL will do this out of consideration for the best unpaid ambassadors, marketers and public relations personnel they have..………retired players?