Dear Chairman Bennett:
Fourth and Goal would like to congratulate you for being elected Chairman of the NFLPA Former Player’s Board of Directors. As the leader of this organization we would like to address some concerns that we believe are important to all former players. There are four areas that we believe are critical to achieving the goals of former player’s. They are: Transparency, Teamwork, Communication and a Game Plan for Success.
We would like to present our thoughts and recommendations to you and the Former Player’s Board of Directors in each of these areas.
TRANSPARENCY:
There has been a lot of talk about this issue as it relates to the NFL owners. At Fourth and Goal we agree that if the owners say they are upset with the financial condition of the League then they should be willing to open their books.
At Fourth and Goal we have asked for the owners to open their books, but we have also called upon the NFLPA to open its books to the players they say they represent. Opening their own books to us should not be conditional on the Owners opening their books. Retired players are not members of NFL Management… and Roger Goodell does not claim to represent us. On the other hand, DeMaurice Smith says he represents us, therefore we should have access to an annual report that provides detailed information on the expenses and revenues of the NFLPA and NFL Players – the marketing arm of the NFLPA.
The NFLPA has been resistant to our request. Why?
When Bruce Laird and Fourth and Goal requested information on what the specific cost of benefits were for active and retired players, we were eventually sent a letter by the NFLPA Attorney, Tom DePaso saying the information was confidential. We knew that wasn’t true, so we asked the NFL to provide us with the information and we were given the costs of the major programs such as the NFL Pension Plan, Second Career Savings Plan, the Annuity Plan and the Health Reimbursement Account. We discovered that approximately $780 Million in benefits were being funded annually and that a huge amount of that money was only benefitting post-1993 players. We also discovered that the Second Career Savings Plan and the Annuity plan had almost 1.5 Billion dollars in assets compared to the Pension Plan which had less than 1 Billion. The Second Career and Annuity Plans have diverted money that could have been placed in the Pension Plan to benefit ALL vested players.
This concerns many retired players because the Pension Plan is currently underfunded. If the Retirement Board had not made a special election under section 204 of the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 then the Pension Plan would have been in Endangered or Critical Status for the 2009 Plan Year. This special election allowed the Retirement Board members to avoid having to adopt a funding improvement plan as well as other administrative tasks.
We are also concerned about the lack of information being provided to former players by the NFLPA with regard to NFL Players – the marketing arm of the NFLPA. During the discovery phase of the Class Action Lawsuit, former players found that almost 70% of the revenue coming into the company was being kept for administrative purposes and that some individuals were receiving enormous salary increases and essentially profiting off the services of active and retired players.
In just one year the former Executive Director, Doug Allen went from making $466,281 to $1.9 million. His wife Pat, the former C.O.O. of Players Inc. doubled her salary to over $600,000. And of course we can’t forget Gene Upshaw who made millions of dollars through this company. How much will DeMaurice Smith be drawing from this company? How many active players or retired players currently sit on the Board of Directors for this company? What is their process for determining which players – active and retired – receive money for meet and greets, autograph signing sessions, licensing agreements and product endorsements?
We have discovered that between 2002 and 2007 only 150 players were paid by NFL Players (formerly Players Inc.). Those players received almost 14 Million dollars during that time span. Will the NFLPA share this type of information with former players? Again, who makes decisions on which players will be selected and compensated? There are some great players that have never received a plug nickel from NFL Players. Why is that? Is there the potential for players that are critical of the Union to be blackballed from earning any money from NFL Players?
If we are truly a team, then why is it that out of 16,000 former players that are still alive, only 150 former players received any compensation from 2002-2007.
Recommendation:
If we are truly “One Team” as DeMaurice Smith says we are, then it makes sense to provide the Team – both active and retired players – with annual reports from the NFLPA and NFL Players which includes the itemized list of revenues, expenditures, investments, licensing agreements and compensation to retired players.
TEAMWORK:
As we all know, the formula for success on the football field is having everyone doing their job first, and then helping out their teammates when they can. Everyone understands that there are different positions and roles that they must play in order to win.
In the retired player movement there are numerous individuals, groups and organizations that are providing a “voice” on issues that effect retired players, but the NFLPA and DeMaurice Smith have suggested that they are the only voice that matters and that any player, retired or active, that does not join them has – in his words – “crossed the line of player loyalty”. Statements like that do nothing but divide retired players.
We acknowledge that the NFLPA and the active players are the only representatives that sit across the table from the owners during CBA meetings, but the CBA is only part of the overall retired player movement and therefore the advice and input the NFLPA receives from retired players via groups such as the Retired Player Chapter members, Gridiron Greats, Fourth and Goal, NFL Alumni and other retired player groups should also be allowed to enter into the discussion.
Do retired players have any reasons to be critical of the Union? Of course we do. Are we supposed to totally forget everything that has occurred in the past and trust them to do the right thing for retired players this time? Not an easy task, especially when some of the same people that tried so hard to defeat us and discredit former players are still employed at the NFLPA.
It is not easy to achieve unity when DeMaurice Smith claims that the NFL Alumni, Fourth and Goal and any retired player that doesn’t agree with them are nothing more than scabs, pawns of the owners and “have done nothing to support active players.”
Our number one priority at Fourth and Goal is supporting retired players. Nonetheless, we have done several things to support active players too.
We have called for the institution of a Rookie Wage Cap with a portion of the savings generated going to retired player’s pensions and veteran players that have proven themselves on the field.
We have also provided a detailed proposal for reforming the NFL Disability Plan. As we all know, the average length of an NFL career is approximately three (3) years, therefore any of the reforms that we have proposed will benefit them if – like most NFL players – they leave the game as a result of injuries they have sustained.
We have recommended that if a Rookie Wage Cap is instituted, no player agent be allowed to charge fees on the money an active player receives under a Performance-Based Pay type system of allocating the funds to veteran players.
We have called on the NFL and the NFLPA to get serious about the concussion issue and have called for the mandatory use of specialized Mouth Guards that have been shown to reduce and prevent traumatic brain injuries.
The NFL Alumni should not be viewed as a threat to the NFLPA and we will not allow DeMaurice Smith to use them, Fourth and Goal or any other retired players that speak out as an excuse for not getting retired players the needed Pension Plan increases, or the necessary reforms to the NFL Disability Plan.
Fourth and Goal has asked former players to be members of both the NFLPA and the NFL Alumni. DeMaurice Smith has not done the same. In fact he has done the exact opposite. In attacking the NFL Alumni, he has created a division in our ranks where none existed . The harsh rhetoric needs to end.
Recommendation: We call on DeMaurice Smith and George Martin to meet and resolve any differences they may have with respect to each of the organizations they are leading. We ask them to acknowledge each others role and position in advocating on behalf of retired players. We ask that all retired players stay united in advocating for pension plan increases and disability plan reforms.
COMMUNICATION:
The internet has opened up an enormous opportunity for retired players to communicate with the public, the media, but most importantly – with each other. If it were not for the internet there would be no NFL Retired Player Google Group, or other blogs and websites that have been providing valuable information to former players. This new communication network has given us the ability share our thoughts and concerns “immediately”. In many ways it has helped to unite us and connect us in a manner that was never possible in the past.
Unfortunately, not all information that is being shared with retired players is meeting the truth test. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but no one is entitled to their own facts. Nonetheless, all communications should be allowed – whether we like what is being said or not. That is the beauty of our U.S. Constitution and our rights as citizens. One of the byproducts of internet communication and free speech is that some people will abuse it and use it to make potentially libelous and defamatory statements about individuals, groups and organizations.
Recommendation: It is essential for everyone involved in the discussion about retired player issues to be open, honest and draw on as much factual information as possible when making statements and presenting ideas and opinions. It is our obligation as retired players to hold everyone accountable for their statements and if necessary, confront them with the facts and the truth – no matter how uncomfortable that may be. For example, DeMaurice Smith made the statement “individual owners and teams have spent exactly nothing on retired player benefits.” We know that to be factually incorrect. The owners contribute all of the funds that go into to the Pension Plan and the Disability Plan and they also contribute funding to the NFL Player Care Plan which includes Joint Replacement benefits, Discount Drug benefits, Life Insurance benefits, Assisted Living benefits, Medicare benefits and Spine Treatment benefits.
GAME PLAN FOR SUCCESS:
The NFLPA, the NFL Alumni, Fourth and Goal, Gridiron Greats and any other groups or individuals that are fighting for retired players all have different ideas on what needs to be done, but it is safe to say that we all agree on two issues:
- Provide a significant increase in the Pension Plan payments for the older generation of retired players
- Provide additional reforms to the Disability Plan.
At the Convention in Maui, a Resolution was passed that expressed support for the active NFLPA membership in their demand during their CBA negotiations that the NFL and its member Clubs establish a Legacy Fund for Former Players to be funded by 2% of the profits generated by the NFL and its member clubs each year; and that the Legacy Fund be used to increase the pensions of all Former Players who have a credited season before 1993 and who are currently receiving a pension by an additional $2,000 per month.
Unfortunately, the resolution – although well intentioned – has a number of problems that need to be addressed.
First: Was it intentionally stated that the only players that would receive the $2,000 increase had to have a credited season before 1993 AND currently be receiving a pension? If that is the case, then what happens to players that have a credited season before 1993 but haven’t taken their pension? Under the proposed resolution these players would receive no increase.
Secondly, the resolution would punish those players that have deferred receiving their pension until age 65 and it would reward players that took early pensions. How insane is that!
This resolution could have the effect of prompting hundreds of players into taking an early retirement benefit in order to qualify for the $2,000 increase.
The resolution, in its present form, would deny the $2,000 increase for many of the men that were involved in the player Strikes of 1982 and 1987. That is totally unacceptable!
Who was responsible for writing this Resolution? Was the wording for this Resolution democratically adopted by the NFLPA Chapter Presidents and Members?
The NFLPA has stated that it wants to increase pre-1993 player pensions by establishing a “Legacy” fund, but they want the NFL owners to fund it with “new” money. We have been told by the NFLPA that if there is no “new” money there will be no increase in retired player pensions or benefits. If that statement is true – and the NFLPA does not successfully negotiate additional money through the establishment of a Legacy Fund, then former players will not receive any Pension increase! DeMaurice Smith will be able to say he tried to get former players an increase but the owners just wouldn’t go for it.
We are being set up for a big fall if we put all our eggs in that basket!
The establishment of a “Legacy Fund” is not a very realistic demand at this time. As you know, there is currently a Class Action Lawsuit against the NFL and NFL Films that is working its way through the court system. That case is already attempting to address the “Legacy” issue. If the Class Action is certified, all retired players would be part of the suit, unless they personally opt out.
It would be nice if the NFL would just roll over and say “I Give”, but let’s be honest here – we know that isn’t going to happen. In order to win the big fights, active and retired players have always had to go to court. Until the lawsuit is settled, it is highly improbable that the NFL Management Council will negotiate this issue during CBA talks.
So what is the NFLPA’s backup plan? Have you and the Former Player Board of Directors addressed this issue with DeMaurice Smith?
What happened to the idea of a Rookie Wage Cap, with a portion of the money saved going to into retired player pensions? We believe that the active players would have embraced that proposal since there were also discussions on increasing Veteran player pay too! Has the Rookie Wage Cap proposal been abandoned by the NFLPA and the Former Player Board of Directors as a viable alternative?
Recommendations:
Rewrite the Resolution so that it is more detailed, specific and understandable and does not punish players that have deferred their retirement, or are not currently receiving a pension. The resolution should provide for increases for all retired players up to 1993 regardless of whether they are currently receiving their pensions.
Provide all retired players with the specific recommendations that the NFLPA Former Player’s Board of Directors is proposing on the Disability Plan reforms.
In addition to the Legacy Fund, we recommend that the Former Players Board of Directors also advocate for a Rookie Wage Cap….. and with the savings generated…. provide an increase in retired player pensions that are more in line with what Major League Baseball players are receiving.
We appreciate your response to the questions and recommendations proposed by Fourth and Goal and we await your response. Your response will be posted on Fourth and Goal for everyone to view.
In closing, we want to thank you for your assistance in carrying this message to the NFLPA Former Player’s Board of Directors.
Sincerely,
Fourth and Goal Board Members
Fourth and Goal National Advocacy Committee
Thank you for bringing the information to the us. Your right on all levels and we still must stay the course if there is giong to be any change. Remember TEAM, Together
Each Accomplish More.
Who ever wrote this I suggest you get your facts straight. How is it you are pushing for a rookie wage scale when that is a management demand? May I remind you that the NFL owners never gave players anything, we earned every penny including the benefits players and their union fought for and won.
Big question: Why the constant hammering of De Smith and the NFLPA and the characterization that the NFLPA is somehow “dishonest”. What former player in their right mind would not want an increase in pension benefits? What former player would not want a streamlined and improved disability benefit process?
It is about winning, Gene understood it and De understands it. And guess what, we did win it. The NFL owners, in case you have not noticed, blew up the system and want a big piece of the 60% players now receive back. So that is what is happening. Suggest you all get on board and cease the bitching. If you have a good idea as to HOW this fight will be won send it to De. This will be a major fight gents, the owners want to regain control and a big piece of the money the players now get back in their pocket. The projected $25 billion NFL revenue expectation 10 years from now is what is at stake. The owners certainly don’t want players, current and former to get 60% of that. Understand!
David Meggyesy
Dave:
You’ve got your nose so far up “D’s” butt that you can’t see the light of day. The fact is the majority of active players do want a rookie wage cap. Here’s a quote from Vikings DE Jared Allen regarding Matthew Stafford’s 41 million dollar guarenteed rookie bonus “It’s outrageous, absolutely outrageous. The guy’s never taken a snap. I’m happy for him, but we got guys in this league that have played 10, 12 years that earn their wages every day and they don’t see that kind of money.”
The NFL Players Association offered to institute a rookie salary cap, but they tied it to a two year extension of the CBA and it was dead on arrival.
This is what “D” said about the rookie wage cap; “The fundamental problem with any discussion on the rookie wage scale is that there has been no negotiation of a “scale” that would ensure that the money saved would go to veteran players. The veteran players are extremely wary of any restructuring of the compensation structure that does not include an automatic or guaranteed allocation of that money to veterans. If such a scale included putting the money saved into a pool for performance bonuses, veteran retention that has to be paid to vets it is worth discussing.”
Has Mr. Smith proposed an automatic, or guaranteed allocation of that money to veterans?” Why would veterans be “wary” if they knew exactly what was in Mr. Smith’s proposal? From what he said, it sounds like the fundamental problem is that “D” hasn’t bothered to provide a specific “scale” or “allocation method”. And why is that? You would get the anwer to that question if you were a fly on the wall during a meeting between Tom Condon and DeMaurice Smith.
Most players don’t have the balls to speak out on this issue because they’re probably afraid that they could be blackballed from making money through NFL Players -the marketing arm of the NFLPA. They all get a check at the beginning of the year, but there is so much more money to be made if you are quiet and just mind your own business – just ask Donovan McNabb.
You ask the question “Why the constant hammering of “D” and the NFLPA and the characterization that the NFLPA is somehow “dishonest”.
You’ve got to be kidding me! You must have been living under a bridge for the past few years. Do you recall that the NFLPA lost a Class Action lawsuit that cost the active players 26 Million dollars? Richard Berthelson who testified against retired players during the trial is still working at the NFLPA. Read Billy Joe DuPree’s new book – The Unbroken Line – about the strike of 1982 and find out just how incompetent the union was during that period of time. Mr. Berthelson was part of that fiasco too.
The NFLPA and DeMaurice Smith are setting us up again by getting a resolution from the Former Players Board of Directors calling for a “Legacy Fund”. When that fails. “D” will simply say he tried his best, but the owners just wouldn’t give in. There is no way the owners will negotiate with the NFLPA on an issue that is currently in litigation.
You tell me that “If you have a good idea as to HOW this fight will be won send it to De.” What the hell do you think we are doing. Everything we have published and recommended has been sent directly to “D’s” personal email address. He knows where we stand on the issues.
You say that the owners want a big piece of the 60% players now receive back. Our own Union won’t even tell retired players how much of the 60% is going to active and retired player benefits! I would say that is “dishonest” and certainly an indication that they have something to hide. Additionally, DeMaurice Smith wants to blow up the current system of providing benefits to retired players under the 60% salary cap structure, even though the salary cap has gone up very single year since it was instituted in 1993.
Get your head out of “D’s ” ass and start thinking for yourself!
Jeff Nixon
Hey Dave….Please keep your post coming…it is very entertaining to read your take on subjects that relate to the NFL/NFLPA….One thing that might help is if you actually knew the facts on the issues….Yea,,Gene Upshaw got the money alright…he also lead the way in stealing from his Retired Members as was evidenced in the Adderley Class Action settlement….I think most NFL Retired Players have learned a lesson from the way Upshaw ran his Country Club…..
That was very well written, concise and to the exact points of interest. Now we will see if the Former Player’s Board was established to actually do Something for retired players or just another smoke screen to delay give one more “party boss” a great income while Rome burns for the rest of us!
Congratulation Cornelius;
I hope you remember old, discarded, no name players such as myself when it comes time to work out the benefit package. I was a 6th round DT pick of the NY Jets in 1980, and played for SF in 80 & 81 (Super Bowl) when I developed hydrocephalus from repeated concussions over the course of my 13 years of football. Emergency brain surgeries #2 & #3 followed 4 months after we won Super Bowl XVI and I was given last rites. I was also given the hospital bills and had creditors on me for 5 years till I successfully sued the 49ers for WORKERS COMP!!!!
28 years after my first brain surgery am now on # 8. I am 51 years old, a wildlife biologist trying to hang onto my home, my business and repair my marriage and family relationships due to memory and anger management issues (a side effect of traumatic brain injuries).
If I was injured as an employee of KMart I would have better benefits than from an 8 BILLION dollar industry.
For glimpse into post NFL life for many of us go to the following links on my happy story.
NPR: A Brain, A Life, Battered by Football
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114059228#commentBlock
George Visger
Wildlife Biologist/Motivational Speaker
SF 49ers 80 & 81
Survivor of 8 football related emergency brain surgeries
Benefactor of ZERO!!!!! NFL benefits
I want to thank you guys for your efforts on behalf of those who don’t have the ability or opportunity to stand up and be counted. Keep working with the knowledge that your efforts are appreciated.
Regards,
Lee Folkins
Green Bay 1961
Dallas 1962-62
Pitssburgh 1965
That was great stuff to read. It’s nice to know that the bullshit will never stop flowing. human beings and thier egos and fucking greed of aggregrated self preservation. How much money does a person need, or is just the power. All these organizations advocating for retired players
Almuni,independent players( the perrish and grant group) NFLPA,fourth and Goal and any others, why can’t there be a join meeting of all the groups or heads of the groups? I was at a meeting for the NFLPA at which Mr. De’maurice was supposed to attend, he did not show up.
It in Anaheim California. One of the people there addressed the small grathering, he said that the NFL Alumni Association as well as Fourth and Goal recieves money from that owners and there for can not be trusted.
That’s the kind of bullshit talk that must be discontinued. If De is the person that so many hold in high esteem why would he allow this mind set to be present in the membership. Maybe it’s the money and the power.
Thank you Fourth and Goal for your efforts in attempting to work with/influence the NFL owners and NFLPA to improve the pension plan for those retired players who played during the decades prior to the 1990′s. The current NFL retirement plan for pre-1993 players is a complete joke. When asked by my friends about it I’m frankly too embarrassed to tell them how laughable it truely is. It’s the biggest joke thats NOT known by millions of fans who watch the NFL on Sunday’s. They need to be told! If they knew how small and insignificant it is they would be shocked. The NFL owners should be ashamed for how meger the payouts are and how underfunded the plan is. It’s a real kick in the stomach to all those great players from the 1940′s thru the 1980′s who made the league what it is today. I’ve worked in the investment business since I left the league in 1987 so I know what a good pension needs to look like. Needless to say the NFL’s retirment plan for pre 1993 players is way, way beyond pathetic and long over due in needing to be vastly improved. The most glaring flaw in the plan is there has never been any kind of annual link to inflation/cost of living increases. The monthly benefits $$ paid to retirees for each credited season has changed only a small amount since the collective bargining agreement that came out of the strike year of 1982. If you factor in inflation and the meteoric rise in league’s revenues since that time it really makes you wonder what in the world Gene Upshaw and company were doing all those years?? Bottom line…. not nearly enough for the pensions of the players who help build the league and laid the foundation for it to become the mega-moolah$$ machine it now is and has been for many, many years. This needs to be fixed once and for all and every retired NFL player needs to help make it right. We need to come together, just as you wrote, and be a TEAM and make these changes happen in the very near future.
Let me know how I can be involved to help in bringing changes to this feeble plan that should have been significantly $$$ up-graded many years ago.
Jeff Schuh
Bengals/Vikings
1981-1986
Jeff Nixon–
Speaking of “noses up people’s asses” you might take yours out of Roger’s.
Do you think veteran players leverage their Free Agent contracts off top rookie contracts, if they can play? If they don’t they and their agents are idiots.
Poor,poor pitiful me is what I hear, pull it together boys and win it, and the money will be there. Stop begging the owners with “geeze they should be paying us old beat up former players, because we contributed so much to the game”. You think the owners really give a sh ..t? It is a bit sickening and demeaning.
By the way Jeff would you like to tell us all how we are going to win it, you know, get the money?
David Meggyesy