In NFL, fault lies with its players

The Washington Times ^ | 7-2-04 | Tom Knott

[JZelle]

The NFL owes its old and broken-down players nothing.

That is just the way it is in business.

You negotiate your pension and medical benefits at the time of your employment.

You do not settle into retirement years later and cry, "No fair."

To be honest, you can cry all you like, but no one is apt to feel your pain.

Mike Ditka felt compelled to cry on Capitol Hill last week, when he voiced frustration with the system before a House subcommittee.

Give Ditka this. His motivations are altruistic. He is not concerned about his financial situation. He made a good chunk of change in coaching. His concern is with his fallen buddies from the '50s and '60s, when the NFL was something far less than the $6 billion-a-year industry it is today.

And that is the rub for those former players who have serious health and financial issues. They played in a more modest NFL. They played at time when baseball was the national pastime and boxing still mattered to a large segment of the American population. They played at a time when football players routinely held jobs in the offseason.

[chrisser]

If the figures you cite are accurate, then just from a marketing standpoint, its a good investment if done with the right PR.

[Dixie Yooper]

To think that all of the NFL players could have been captains of industry, doctors or even lawyers. Instead they chose to serve our country as sports heroes. Don’t you think we owe them something for their sacrifice?

[HEY4QDEMS]

I agree with most of the article but I do believe that the NFL in the fifties, especially late fifties, and sixties was economically very big.
So much so that a rival league (AFL) formed and payed immense salaries to high draft picks and to lure top talent from the NFL. When they payed all that money to Joe Namath, everyone said that no body would ever see that kind of money and within two years there were several.
Undoubtedly there would have been dozens more within a short time but the two leagues merged and colluded to keep the lions share of the profits for themselves and went back to paying their players rinky dink wages and no free agency so that players could determine their worth in a free market.

[John Semmens]

The rich salaries and benefits of the current crop of players are subsidized by taxpayer financing for stadiums.

This is on top of all the free advertising given to their product by the media. Every newspaper has a sports section. Every TV news hour has ten minutes set aside for sports. The bulk of the sports coverage is for proefessional teams.

The old time NFL players are stuck in the average guy’s retirement. They’re no worse off than the typical retiree in America.

I have no beef against guys making a living entertaining people via sporting contests. I do have a beef with politicians taxing the average schmos to subsidize wealthy pro-team owners and players.

This inequity arises from the pro-sports empire pitting one community vs. another with threats to take the team elsewhere. What Congress ought to do is levy fees on teams that use publicly financed stadiums in order to retire the public debts incurred in building them and to reimburse taxpayers for the subsidies they’ve been forced to pay. Action at the national level would reduce the leverage teams use against city politicians.

[Salo]

The Redskins are worth so much because they own their stadium, which they paid for themselves, IIRC.

It would be nice if they could help out their old-timers, but they are not obligated to do so.

[Badeye]

The league doesn’t owe them a thing.

[theFIRMbss]

>The NFL owes its old and broken-down players nothing. That is just the way it is in business. You negotiate your pension and medical benefits at the time of your employment

Are the athletes pets
and is it their "owner's" job
to look after them

for life, or are they
citizens with their own life?
(But the trouble is,

everybody knows
athletes get no real schooling
so they're really not

equipped to handle
problems of everyday life
like real citizens...)

[DCPatriot]

To think that all of the NFL players could have been captains of industry, doctors or even lawyers. Instead they chose to serve our country as sports heroes. Don’t you think we owe them something for their sacrifice?

Your comment begs for a sarcasm tag.

Furthermore, excuse me?"...OR even lawyers"

?

LOL! Paging Dr. Dexter Manley!

[bmwcyle]

This is why I will not watch sports any more.

[Izzy Dunne]

all of the NFL players could have been captains of industry, doctors or even lawyers. Instead they chose to serve our country as sports heroes. Don’t you think we owe them something for their sacrifice?

Chuckle.

Giggle.

Snort.

Guffaw.

[theFIRMbss]

>The league doesn’t owe them a thing

Does society?
From grade school on, many kids
are "guided" into

school sports programs and
given winks about their grades.
The kids are too young

to see past the hype
and by the time they do see
they're grown with no skills

for thinking, no skills
for how to be an adult.
Somebody's at fault.

[Zack Nguyen]

So long as no crimes are being committed and no one is being swindled, what business does congress have with the NFL pension system?

[Dixie Yooper]

LOL! Paging Dr. Dexter Manley!

sarcasm off/sarcasm back on; Dr. Manley is busy ready the WSJ (upside down). sarcasm off

[Dixie Yooper]

LOL! Paging Dr. Dexter Manley!

sarcasm off/sarcasm back on; Dr. Manley is busy reading the WSJ (upside down). sarcasm off

[IslandJeff]

When was the NFLPA formed? Sounds like their beef should be with them...

[miliantnutcase]

It distracts them for a minute from digging in my wallet.