Disabled NFL Players Tell Woes To Congress
Aging Players With Disabling Injuries Ask Lawmakers To Settle Dispute Between NFL And Players' Union
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Former Chicago Bears player and head coach Mike Ditka, right, listens as former NFL player Brent Boyd, left, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 26, 2007. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
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But the NFL and the NFL Players Association told lawmakers that pensions for older players are on the rise. Last week, they agreed to allow any former player who qualified as disabled under the Social Security system to be considered as disabled under the NFL-NFLPA system.
"I don't think a law change is necessary," NFL Senior Vice President Dennis Curran said. "I don't accept that the process is broken."
Retired football players have been openly critical of the NFL and the players' union over the amount of money older retirees get from a $1.1 billion fund set aside for disability and pensions.
The league says $126 million a year goes into pension and post-career disability benefits for retired players and their families. The accounts pay out $60 million a year to those players, $20 million of it for disability payments.
But only 317 out of more than 10,000 eligible players are getting disability payments out of that fund, officials said.
"Its right versus wrong," said Mike Ditka, a Hall of Fame Coach and player for the Chicago Bears. "It's do the ethical thing or do the wrong thing. So far, they've chosen to do the wrong thing."
Lawmakers zeroed in on the fact that the players' union only represents active players, not retired players. But the union and the NFL owners decide who sits on the panels that decide whether retired players get disability payments.
"We have a group that should be protected, but is not being protected," said Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Fla.
NFL and NFLPA representatives noted that the benefits in the disability and pension systems are set through collective bargaining negotations between the players and the owners.
"Many of the players who now complain about their pension did not view pension benefits as a priority when they were playing, and did not agree to make sacrifices in bargaining to improve either their pensions or the pensions of those who came before them," said Douglas Ell, the lawyer for NFL's retirement plan.
In the most recent collective bargaining agreement, payments from the pension fund were raised by 25 percent for players who retired before 1982 and 10 percent for those who retired after 1982.
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At any rate, the unions are unable to negotiate, as their positions have been eroded by the neocon zeitgeist, so it may very well be apropos for government to step in. The club owners make billions off the blood and bodies of these men, a fairer compensation, on a case by case basis is in order, we're not talking about millions, or hundreds, or even tens of thousands of people here.
If the owners are too greedy to help those who made their fortunes, then by all means force them to do it.