NFL legends can't make ends meet

[HarveyWallbangers]

I like your idea, KY. I don't understand why they can't do something similar without the help of the NFLPA or the league. Times were different back then. They should continue to fight for what they can get, and I hope they can get more. However, instead of constantly complaining about it, they should do stuff like you propose.

Old-time programmers should do this. FORTRAN, COBOL, and LISP programmers should come out and complain about the salaries of today's Java, C++, and VB programmers, and push for them to fully fund their pension and retirement programmers.


I can see it now. Those poor souls had no idea how to run their lives after FORTRAN went by the wayside, and they lived a hopeless life of desolation.

[gbpackfan]

You can call me low class all you want but these guys PLAYED FOOTBALL FOR A LIVING! I don't care how much or little they made. Some of you act like these guys are World Trade Center heroes. Guess what? They're not! If they didn't like the retirement plan they could have worked for a different company doing a different job. "Real" people face these decisions every-day, so excuse me if I don't shed a tear for men who played a child's game for a living. No one put a gun to their head. No one forced them into football slavery!

[KYPack]

I like your idea, KY. I don't understand why they can't do something similar without the help of the NFLPA or the league. Times were different back then. They should continue to fight for what they can get, and I hope they can get more. However, instead of constantly complaining about it, they should do stuff like you propose.

Old-time programmers should do this. FORTRAN, COBOL, and LISP programmers should come out and complain about the salaries of today's Java, C++, and VB programmers, and push for them to fully fund their pension and retirement programmers.


I can see it now. Those poor souls had no idea how to run their lives after FORTRAN went by the wayside, and they lived a hopeless life of desolation.

Why should the league help?

Because these guys laid their hearts, souls, and bodies on the line to make the NFL into the financial colossus that it is today.

The NFL really wouldn't have to contribute a dime.

Just aim that PR monster they control into endorsing the events and programs the NFL Legends would offer. Enable the Legends organization to be successful. Set up a number of channels that would allow the people to help the old guys out.

Have the old boys do it solely on their own?

It would be a fart in a hurricane (to quote an old GM).

I think your "inventor of FORTRAN" argument is full of it.

The NFL wouldn't have to do much, but they should do something.

[KYPack]

You can call me low class all you want but these guys PLAYED FOOTBALL FOR A LIVING! I don't care how much or little they made. Some of you act like these guys are World Trade Center heroes. Guess what? They're not! If they didn't like the retirement plan they could have worked for a different company doing a different job. "Real" people face these decisions every-day, so excuse me if I don't shed a tear for men who played a child's game for a living. No one put a gun to their head. No one forced them into football slavery!

Well, low class is a bit strong.

You are a good poster & all.

I just think you are 100% fulla shit on this issue and I disagree with you.

[Bretsky]

Like I said, everybody should watch that HBO special with Bryant Gumbel.

The biggest gripes are not the annual dollar or retirement benefits, which are piss poor.

The biggest gripes are regarding the NFL refusing to pay medical necessities players have due to injuries suffered in the NFL.

Tons of justifiable lawsuits are flooding against the NFL; it sickens me.


B

[gbpackfan]

KY,

Nicely put. And I may be full of shit on the issue. What the hell do I know?!

[digitaldean]

Packer legend Jerry Kramer is setting up an online auction to raise money for retirees. He came up with the idea when he found his SB ring that was lost on an airplane being auctioned off.

This is an excerpt from an AP story: "An idea hit Kramer when he saw the Super Bowl ring he lost in an airplane 25 years ago being auctioned online. He tracked down the seller, yelled at him a while, and when things calmed down, they agreed to this:

There would be an auction, but the proceeds would go to retirees in need."

http://www.jerrykramer.com

Tried getting on the site before but it was down.

Ditka's auctioning off an NFC championship ring, former Bills lineman Joe DeLamielleure is auctioning a solid gold bracelet he and the other Electric Company linemen got from O.J. Simpson as well as others.

Given the lucrative TV deals, Goodell should take 1 or 2% of that and put in an fund for all living NFL retirees.

Yes, many previous NFLers weren't forced to play the game, it was a job. There does have to be some level of support for those who have medical problems due to their NFL careers.

[Partial]

I agree. You've gotta take care of your roots.

[KYPack]

Packer legend Jerry Kramer is setting up an online auction to raise money for retirees. He came up with the idea when he found his SB ring that was lost on an airplane being auctioned off.

This is an excerpt from an AP story: "An idea hit Kramer when he saw the Super Bowl ring he lost in an airplane 25 years ago being auctioned online. He tracked down the seller, yelled at him a while, and when things calmed down, they agreed to this:

There would be an auction, but the proceeds would go to retirees in need."

http://www.jerrykramer.com

Tried getting on the site before but it was down.

Ditka's auctioning off an NFC championship ring, former Bills lineman Joe DeLamielleure is auctioning a solid gold bracelet he and the other Electric Company linemen got from O.J. Simpson as well as others.

Given the lucrative TV deals, Goodell should take 1 or 2% of that and put in an fund for all living NFL retirees.

Yes, many previous NFLers weren't forced to play the game, it was a job. There does have to be some level of support for those who have medical problems due to their NFL careers.

You got it DD.

One thing, though.

You can't tap the TV revenue. That $ is all spoken for in the CBA. Baby Upshaw and the NFLPA would howl bloody murder.

NFL Legends ( or whatever it is called) would have to exist on incremental revenue.

Coporate sponsorship ( Insurance, viagra, Who ever makes Depends etc; etc)
Corp contributions
Fan contributions
Charity events (Legend games, golf outings, etc)
$ from current and retired players
$

[Partial]

All Pro-Bowl proceeds should go to ex-players. Each player should donate 25k also who makes the pro-bowl.

[MJZiggy]

So who's gonna set it up?

[HarveyWallbangers]

Edit. Don't really care. I'm sure the league will work it out. At least, these old-timers can hope to get increased funding--like they've gotten in every new CBA that's been signed. There are folks in other industries that require hard labor who could only dream about that prospect.

[Patler]

Not to sound harsh, but there are two sides to every story. How much are they looking to get and how many players will get this money? If every old-timer is looking to get paid $1000/month (maybe on the high side) and there are 5000 old-timers (probably on the low side since there have been 700+ Packers alone that played before 1970) looking to get paid, that comes out to $60M/year. That money comes from somewhere, and that somewhere would be the current player's salaries. That comes out to almost $40,000/year for each player playing now. That might not sound much for the Brett Favres of the world, but that's a ton of dough for the Tracy Whites of the league.

Assess each team $2 million on their salary cap, but leave minimum salaries where they are. The $2 million will come from the highest paid players and not from the Tracy Whites.

Or, charge each player 2% of their salary cap value. Again the highest paid will bear the brunt of the assessment.

[HarveyWallbangers]

This article seems a little more balanced.

Better deal urged for NFL retirees
By EDDIE PELLS, AP National Writer

MIAMI (AP) -- They limp through life, often too proud to ask for handouts but desperately in need of help. They are the aging NFL retirees and, as a rule, the older they are, the less they receive from the league's pension and disability funds.

"An embarrassment," is what famed former player and coach Mike Ditka called it.

"Twenty percent of nothing is nothing," former Bills offensive lineman Joe DeLamielleure said.

Ditka, DeLamielleure and another Hall of Famer, Lem Barney, joined one-time Packers star Jerry Kramer on Thursday to promote Kramer's endeavor to auction championship rings and other valuable memorabilia to raise money for their fellow retirees.

Ditka described the situation as "shameful," saying he received a $100,000 donation from an owner of a sport other than football. When he sent letters to the 32 NFL owners asking for the same donation some time ago, he said he received one check for $5,000 and another for $10,000. He said he sent those checks back.

"It's a problem that should have been remedied and it's going to get remedied," Ditka said. "If they don't, a lot of people are going to be embarrassed."

Ditka brought up a number of players -- John Mackey, the late Ernie Stautner, Doug Atkins and others less famous -- who are aging and hurting. Perhaps the worst case was the late Mike Webster, the Hall of Fame Steelers center who suffered from mental illness that was widely attributed to head injuries. He died homeless in 2002.

"I can't tell you today if Mike Webster would've been alive today," Ditka said. "I don't know. But I do know he wouldn't have been a damn street person. I know his family wouldn't have had to sue to get his benefits. It's not right. It's just not."

While Ditka wouldn't say precisely who's to blame, DeLamielleure wasn't shy about it. He blamed former commissioner Paul Tagliabue and players' union head Gene Upshaw for the growing discrepancy in the amount of money recent retirees and old-timers get in pension and health care.

"They have been in power for 20 years and have done nothing about it," said DeLamielleure, the former Bills lineman who is auctioning off a gold bracelet he received from O.J. Simpson.

But Upshaw, speaking later at a separate news conference, said: "For anyone to say that the NFLPA does not care about retired players is not responsible. They don't know the record, they don't know the body of work."

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.

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. But retired football players often have difficulty getting health insurance because of injuries suffered on the field, and the old-timers have long endured a health-care gap.

More work will be done, Upshaw promised, though he conceded many retirees will probably never be completely happy.

"It's impossible, economics-wise," he said.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello declined comment, saying commissioner Roger Goodell would address the subject Friday at his news conference.

Upshaw pointed out, however, that it's a reality of corporate America that those who work in later eras and make more money do better on their post-retirement plans than those who came before them.

Some see the NFL as a special exception. Those who played in the '50s, '60s and '70s laid the groundwork for the popularity of the league. They did it without the same level of medical care. Yet today they hurt every bit as much -- often more -- as the players who retired much later.

Upshaw acknowledged Ditka's complaint, and said that too much red tape exists. Union president Troy Vincent said he wished retired players would talk about other issues, too.

"Every conversation with retired players is strictly about economics," he said. "You get tired of talking about it. Let's develop a relationship first. You're a Hall of Famer. What can I do to improve my game? It's not just all about economics."

To many, it is.

An idea hit Kramer when he saw the Super Bowl ring he lost in an airplane 25 years ago being auctioned online. He tracked down the seller, yelled at him a while, and when things calmed down, they agreed to this:

There would be an auction, but the proceeds would go to retirees in need.

[HarveyWallbangers]

It is funny that Ditka mentioned Mackey--because it sounds like the NFL has already addressed his issue:

This from the NFL Retired Players website.

Back in May, while fretting over her husband's health-care costs and his advancing dementia, Sylvia Mackey wrote an impassioned letter to NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue seeking help.

Yesterday, the letter and her prayers were answered.

In conjunction with an announcement on pension improvements, the NFL Players Association said it will pay the cost of providing up to $88,000 per year for institutional care or up to $50,000 per year for in-home nursing care for retired players who suffer from dementia or Alzheimer's disease, regardless of age.

"I'm thrilled. This has changed my life," said Mackey, whose husband John was a Hall of Fame tight end for the Baltimore Colts from 1963 to 1971.

"When you think of down-the-road, having to put up $70,000 to $100,000 a year for a nursing home, or have a lawyer show you how to spend down to qualify for government programs ... not having to face that anymore is like putting dignity back in my life."