One Team, One Locker Room?

One Team, One Locker Room

At a meeting with the NFL on September 15, I asked repeatedly about retired players’ widows and families. The other retired players’ representatives and I were assured that, contingent upon the retired players’ pension designation, his pension benefits would continue to be paid to his widow following his death.

Recently we learned that certain widows – those whose husbands died prior to August 4, 2011 – have been excluded from the Legacy Benefit. Fourth & Goal immediately contacted the National Football League to rectify the omission. Since that initial contact – and in subsequent conversations and messages over the last few weeks – we’ve repeatedly been assured that the NFL will “make it right”.

Yet we know that the league can’t do it alone, for any adjustment to the Collective Bargaining Agreement requires that the union also concur and share the costs. But as NFL officials reiterate their intent to correct the situation, as numerous widows speak up and demand answers, the union has remained silent. In fact, in conversations with members of the NFLPA’s former players’ executive committee, we learned that the committee has held no discussions about this issue, several had only a vague awareness of the widows’ exclusion and one member knew absolutely nothing about the situation.

Apparently the NFLPA’s “One Team, One Locker Room” doesn’t extend to the widows of our teammates.

While the widows were excluded from the Legacy Benefit, the NFLPA insisted on including 749 players – the “crossovers” whose careers spanned the late 1980s to 1993 and who retired after 1993. As a result, they’ll see a $432 increase in their pension checks each month while the widows – whose husbands were receiving their pensions, whose husbands ensured that their survivors would continue to benefit from their pensions, whose husbands did not benefit from the high salaries and generous ancillary benefits post-1993 players receive, and whose husbands died prior to August 4, 2011 – see nothing.

It’s important to note that post-1993 players also benefit from a smorgasbord of ancillary benefits. As an example, a player whose career covered the 1989 to 1998 seasons would receive, when he reached age 65:

• $80,000 in severance pay
• $120,000 through an annuity program
• $670,000 in a second career savings program
• $7,896 per month in pension benefits

That same player would also receive five years of paid health insurance coverage, an annual tuition assistance benefit of $15,000 and a health reimbursement account that can reach $300,000.

In contrast, the great John Unitas, whose career spanned 18 years – double that of our hypothetical retiree – walked away from the NFL with just a modest pension. (By the way, the highest salary Unitas earned during his career was $250,000.) Like the hundreds of players who played prior to 1993, when the generous ancillary benefits were awarded to active players, Unitas received no severance pay, no annuity program, no second career savings program, no health insurance, no tuition assistance, and no health reimbursement.

Now I’m not a mathematician or an economist, but to me this doesn’t add up.

Generations of NFL players who played before 1982 ended their football careers with no benefits other than a pension. Players gained severance pay in 1982 and, in 1993, the outstanding package of additional benefits that – combined with the ever-escalating salaries – should ensure their financial future. It stands to reason that the Legacy Benefit would have a greater impact on the quality of life of the widows of those pre-1993 players than on the 749 players whom the NFLPA protected.

Beyond the financial impact, what does the exclusion say to the wives of the men who built the game?

After being contacted by Fourth & Goal, one member of the NFLPA former players’ executive committee promised to bring up the issue at the NFLPA former players’ convention in March. My question is this: “Why should they wait?”

At Fourth & Goal’s Legacy Benefit meeting on Tuesday, John Mackey’s widow Sylvia told us about John’s actions after he learned of an active player who suffered a heart attack in his hotel room the night before a game. Despite the player’s sudden death, his team refused a request to pay the player’s salary for the season. It was John Mackey who lobbied to get the team’s decision reversed – even though he didn’t know the player or the player’s wife.

So I urge you to follow the example of John Mackey. Contact the NFLPA leadership and former players’ board of directors:

NFLPA
DeMaurice Smith, Executive Director
Nolan Harrison, Senior Director, Former Player Services

Former Players Board of Directors:
Cornelius Bennett, Chair
Marty Amsler
Reggie Berry
Tony Bouie
Eddie Khayat
Jim McFarland
Erik McMillan
Mickey Washington
Leonard Wheeler

John Mackey had that unnamed player’s widow’s back. Who has his Sylvia’s?

Bruce Laird
President, Fourth & Goal
Baltimore Colts, 1972-1981
San Diego Chargers, 1982-1983